diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-core/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-core/default.nix
index 82d3e9916700..1c9a8dcba2f6 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-core/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-core/default.nix
@@ -29,14 +29,14 @@
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
   pname = "docling-core";
-  version = "2.38.1";
+  version = "2.44.1";
   pyproject = true;
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "docling-project";
     repo = "docling-core";
     tag = "v${version}";
-    hash = "sha256-zfpinXjZrGp5SF5IXLSP/A9Kb1WzqXXtIhhk/G3nY4k=";
+    hash = "sha256-vZTQE8UACMdMPPvNM2FVu+Sq9uJByt443N3ScNXsjGc=";
   };
 
   build-system = [
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-ibm-models/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-ibm-models/default.nix
index 166ae7e7c5bc..fb07db2fed49 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-ibm-models/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-ibm-models/default.nix
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
   poetry-core,
 
   # dependencies
+  accelerate,
   docling-core,
   huggingface-hub,
   jsonlines,
@@ -29,14 +30,14 @@
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
   pname = "docling-ibm-models";
-  version = "3.8.1";
+  version = "3.9.0";
   pyproject = true;
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "docling-project";
     repo = "docling-ibm-models";
     tag = "v${version}";
-    hash = "sha256-Yogg71CXQTdF5OUbdbma1rQxtLudTLjyOIFe2LS9CpI=";
+    hash = "sha256-UmgxEPEm6fNf4FbZ7CIcSEIaJg4sReI0pnkWwPdrJvQ=";
   };
 
   build-system = [
@@ -44,6 +45,7 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
   ];
 
   dependencies = [
+    accelerate
     docling-core
     huggingface-hub
     jsonlines
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-parse/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-parse/default.nix
index ebca992e63b0..9257f95adfa8 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-parse/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-parse/default.nix
@@ -33,6 +33,14 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     hash = "sha256-1vl5Ij25NXAwhoXLJ35lcr5r479jrdKd9DxWhYbCApw=";
   };
 
+  patches = [
+    # Fixes test_parse unit tests
+    # export_to_textlines in docling-core >= 2.38.2 includes text direction
+    # by default, which is not included in upstream's groundtruth data.
+    # TODO: remove when docling-core version gets bumped in upstream's uv.lock
+    ./test_parse.patch
+  ];
+
   dontUseCmakeConfigure = true;
 
   nativeBuildInputs = [
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-parse/test_parse.patch b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-parse/test_parse.patch
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f58c78dcad0b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling-parse/test_parse.patch
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+diff --git a/tests/test_parse.py b/tests/test_parse.py
+index 84e17ae..e1eb6ae 100644
+--- a/tests/test_parse.py
++++ b/tests/test_parse.py
+@@ -242,6 +242,7 @@ def test_reference_documents_from_filenames():
+                         cell_unit=unit,
+                         add_fontkey=True,
+                         add_fontname=False,
++                        add_text_direction=False,
+                     )
+                     _fname = fname + f".{unit}.txt"
+                     with open(_fname, "w") as fw:
+@@ -254,6 +255,7 @@ def test_reference_documents_from_filenames():
+                         cell_unit=unit,
+                         add_fontkey=True,
+                         add_fontname=False,
++                        add_text_direction=False,
+                     )
+ 
+                     _fname = fname + f".{unit}.txt"
diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling/default.nix
index b341fd681149..cbb5993b93d7 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/docling/default.nix
@@ -52,14 +52,14 @@
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
   pname = "docling";
-  version = "2.38.1";
+  version = "2.42.0";
   pyproject = true;
 
   src = fetchFromGitHub {
     owner = "docling-project";
     repo = "docling";
     tag = "v${version}";
-    hash = "sha256-ITRpWO7PEtfg5kM9LF3koZgzuPtLxoGFhorMlXlwSdI=";
+    hash = "sha256-9HUomW55Yg5N7u3Wb4imzRUYECeGkb3lkHPLEGzuAnA=";
   };
 
   build-system = [