Project DEAL
Learn the key facts about Project DEAL here!
What is "Project DEAL"?
Project DEAL is an initiative launched by German universities and research institutions to negotiate nationwide agreements with major academic publishers (currently Springer Nature, Wiley, and Elsevier). Its primary goal is to make research publications from Germany openly accessible while ensuring continued access to scholarly journals for research and teaching.
Instead of individual universities purchasing costly journal subscriptions, Project DEAL negotiates centralized "Publish and Read" agreements. These agreements allow researchers at participating institutions to publish their articles openly without paying individual publication fees, while also providing comprehensive access to the publishers’ journal portfolios.
By combining publishing and reading rights within a single framework, Project DEAL aims to increase the visibility and impact of scientific research, improve cost transparency, and support the transition toward a more open and sustainable scholarly communication system.
DEAL journal lists
The DEAL agreements apply exclusively to journals. Nearly all journals published by the participating publishers are covered by these agreements. The journal lists can be accessed here.
Submitting corresponding authors can publish their articles on an open-access basis in periodicals published by Wiley, Springer Nature. and Elsevier.
Your articles are made open access automatically (CC-BY license, including peer review).
You enjoy permanent read access to the whole portfolio of titles (e-journals) produced by the selected publishers.
Confirming your entitlement in the authors’ portal is easy.
What do I as an author need to do?
Log into the authors' portal for the respective publisher, Wiley, Springer Nature, or Elsevier. Submit your article. Enter "University of Bonn" or "University Hospital Bonn" as your affiliation (also on the PDF of your article, see also the guidelines of the University of Bonn for the standardized indication of affiliation in scientific publications).
Whenever possible, use your institutional email address (@uni-bonn.de or @ukbonn.de) for correspondence and in the publisher's submission platform as the "corresponding author."
No separate application to the University of Bonn Publication Fund is necessary!
You will be notified that your institution is a signatory to an agreement with the publisher. You can now make your article open access.
We check all articles for eligibility and the affiliation to the University of Bonn is confirmed or rejected by us as an institution.
If you qualify, your publication fees will be billed to us, so you should not receive an invoice from the publisher for any APCs yourself.
Billing is handled centrally through the University; however, the costs may be reallocated through internal cost allocation procedures.
Please note
The University covers open access publishing charges only for corresponding authors whose primary affiliation is the University of Bonn or the University Hospital Bonn. For publications with multiple corresponding authors, the primary affiliation of the submitting corresponding author is considered the institution responsible for funding.
Once your article has been accepted, you will have the option to publish it either as open access or under the traditional subscription model. We strongly encourage you to choose open access. Please note that if you opt out of open access, the publisher will still charge the University the full fee under the terms of the agreement.
FAQ about the "DEAL"
- E-books are not covered under the DEAL. These are acquired and made available to you at our own cost under license agreements.
- Additional services such as color charges are not covered by the DEAL either. You will still need to cover these costs yourself.
- Articles that deal with primary research findings and the description of trends and developments (research papers and reviews) are eligible, but types such as editorials, community news, book or media reviews, etc. are not.
- Yes. The University pays a flat fee to the publishers for the privilege that includes the publication fees for making articles in the publisher's licensed periodicals ("subscription journals") open access (the "article processing charges," or APCs).
- Our agreements with all three publishers run until the end of 2028.