With an aim to understand the origin of the low thermal expansion coefficients (TECs), cation-substituted YBaCo 4 O 7-type oxides have been investigated by in-situ neutron diffraction, bond valence sum (BVS), thermogravimetic analysis, and dilatometry. The compositions YBaCo 3 ZnO 7+δ , Y 0.9 In 0.1 BaCo 3 ZnO 7+δ , and Y 0.9 In 0.1 BaCo 3 Zn 0.6 Fe 0.4 O 7+δ were synthesized by solid-state reaction at 1200 o C. Rietveld refinement of the joint synchrotron X-ray and neutron diffraction data shows that the Zn and Fe dopants have different preferences to substitute the Co ions in the 6c and 2a sites. The bulk thermal-expansion coefficient of YBaCo 3 ZnO 7+δ , Y 0.9 In 0.1 BaCo 3 ZnO 7+δ , and Y 0.9 In 0.1 BaCo 3 Zn 0.6 Fe 0.4 O 7+δ are, respectively, 9.42, 9.76, and 9.06 x 10-6 o C-1. Neutron diffraction data show that the low anisotropic TEC along the a-axis is the main contributor to the low bulk TECs. With the substitution of In, Zn, and Fe in Y 0.9 In 0.1 BaCo 3 Zn 0.6 Fe 0.4 O 7+δ , the anisotropic and bulk TECs could be reduced to 8.94 and 9.06 x 10-6 o C-1 , respectively, mainly due to the suppression of the change in CoO bond length in CoO 4 polyhedra. The observed weight loss during heating is due to the loss of interstitial oxide ions, as revealed by neutron diffraction and BVS map. Y 0.9 In 0.1 BaCo 3 Zn 0.6 Fe 0.4 O 7+δ has the lowest areaspecific cathodic polarization resistance of 0.14 ohm cm 2 (R total /2) at 700 o C in air.