For Authors

Increase your impact, without having to pay extra.

Thanks to the transformative nationwide DEAL agreements with the publishers Wiley, Springer Nature, and Elsevier authors affiliated with more than 1,000 DEAL institutions across Germany can publish their articles openly in thousands of high quality, peer-reviewed journals across all disciplines.

Keep copyright of your article

To make it easy for researchers to publish their articles openly in the peer-reviewed journals of their choice, the Alliance of Science Organizations in Germany formed Projekt DEAL to negotiate nationwide agreements with the scholarly publishers in whose journals authors publish most.

Learn how to publish openly with DEAL >>

OA without author-facing fees

Choose the Open Access option for your publications in Springer Nature and Wiley journals. For corresponding authors affiliated with a German institution, the OA fees are automatically covered by the DEAL agreements, even if your institution has not yet joined the consortium.

Learn how costs are covered >>

Greater visibility, greater impact

Publishing your article openly amplifies the reach of your research: scientists everywhere will be able to read and cite your work, not just those who can afford costly subscriptions.

Get the open access advantage >>

Publish with DEAL

Am I eligible for open access publishing provided by the DEAL agreement?

Springer Nature and Wiley until 2023

The eligibility for Open Access publishing under the first two DEAL agreements with Wiley (2019-2023) and Springer Nature (2020-2023) applies to all researchers affiliated to any of the more than 1,000 DEAL institutions. It is therefore not necessary for your institution to have formally joined the agreements in order to take advantage of the Open Access option.

Elsevier (1.9.2023-31.12.2028)

Researchers wishing to publish Open Access articles under the DEAL-Elsevier agreement must be affiliated to an institution that has joined the DEAL agreement. More than 900 German institutions are eligible to participate. You can check this list (Excel download) to see if your institution is already participating. If necessary, ask your library if they have joined or are planning to join.

>> If you are unsure whether your employment status entitles you to use the DEAL agreement (e.g. as an emeritus), check with your institution's management or library.

Learn how costs are covered

How is open access publishing in (hybrid) subscription journals funded under DEAL?

The costs of DEAL contracts are covered by the participating institutions in the DEAL consortium, while the publishers' contractual partner is MPDL Services gGmbH, which in turn invoices the participating institutions. Therefore, publishers do not invoice authors or institutions directly. However, you may wish to check with your library or institution to see if there are any internal contributions to be made by scientific authors.

In general, the DEAL funding mechanism for open access publishing in subscription journals (so-called hybrid Open Access) is based on the reallocation of the former collective subscription expenditure of German universities and research institutions. Read more about this on the "Background and objectives" page.

Please note that the DEAL agreements cover the costs of Open Access publishing, but do not cover any print-related services that you may order for your article in the course of publication, e.g. colour charges, page charges, etc.; these are at your own expense.

Get the open access advantage

Get the maximum visibility and immediate impact for your article

Through the DEAL agreements, your peer-reviewed articles can be published immediately and universally open access, with no paywall or embargo period, giving you the broadest possible readership and potential impact for your article.

Taking this opportunity to publish your article open access, you will contribute to a growing body of openly available research findings, enabling more profound, expansive and impactful studies, accelerating the process of science, itself, whereby new discoveries are built upon previously established results.

Questions?

Contact DEAL Support here or get in touch with your open access officer or librarian for more information.