diff --git a/docs/_plugins/copy_api_dirs.rb b/docs/_plugins/copy_api_dirs.rb
index f926d67e6beaf91bb9c88ddfb82287c7524f18b4..71e643244ec286e195adc40a532de0b616d118ae 100644
--- a/docs/_plugins/copy_api_dirs.rb
+++ b/docs/_plugins/copy_api_dirs.rb
@@ -142,4 +142,7 @@ if not (ENV['SKIP_API'] == '1')
   puts "cp -r R/pkg/html/. docs/api/R"
   cp_r("R/pkg/html/.", "docs/api/R")
 
+  puts "cp R/pkg/DESCRIPTION docs/api"
+  cp("R/pkg/DESCRIPTION", "docs/api")
+
 end