Publish Open Access
Increase your impact, without having to pay extra.
Thanks to the transformative nationwide DEAL agreements, authors affiliated with more than 900 DEAL institutions across Germany can publish their articles openly in thousands of high quality, peer-reviewed journals across all disciplines, without having to pay open access publishing fees.
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.
OA without author-facing fees
The DEAL agreements repurpose library subscription funds to support open access publishing instead, so that authors are not burdened with open access publishing fees. If you are the corresponding author and affiliated with one of the more than 900 DEAL institutions, you are covered—even if your institution has not signed-up yet.
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.
Here's what DEAL gives you
If you are the corresponding author and affiliated with one of the more than 900 DEAL institutions, you are covered—even if your institution has not yet formally signed up.
The nationwide DEAL agreements apply to nearly all German universities, scientific institutions, federal institutes, government agencies and authorities, with slight variations from publisher to publisher. Check whether your institution is included:
The corresponding author is the person who oversees the manuscript and correspondence during the publication process.
The publisher will recognize your eligibility automatically, and your institution will verify your affiliation in the course of the publication process.
If you are not sure if your employment status qualifies as affiliation with one of the DEAL institutions, please check with your library. Authors not affiliated with a DEAL institution may contact the DEAL Operations support team for assistance.
Learn how costs are covered
It is standard practice for open access publishing costs to be covered by the institution of the corresponding author, who should also be the author who submits the manuscript, even in the case of articles with multiple authors.
The costs to publish your article openly are paid centrally by DEAL using an innovative and equitable cost structure that repurposes the former subscription funds of DEAL institutions and saves the German research community money.
Please note that the DEAL agreements cover the cost of open access publishing, but they do not cover any print-related services that you may order for your article in the process of publication, ie color charges, page charges, etc.; these are at your own expense.
Get the open access advantage
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.