DEAL contracts entered into force

High participation rates achieved

Institutions that together are responsible for about 90% of the total number of publications from Germany in the journals of the publishers Elsevier, Springer Nature and Wiley based on the figures for 2022 are participating in the contracts.

Collectively, the DEAL agreements have the potential to shift around half of German research output in scientific journals to Open Access every year over the next five years. This will make research results from Germany immediately freely available, accessible free of charge worldwide and re-usable. It will also give hundreds of institutions in the country, and their researchers and students, maximum access to publishing platforms and content that is not yet openly accessible.

The DEAL agreement with Elsevier was subject to a 70% participation rate. The impressive participation rate of 90% means that a further contractual agreement will now come into effect: a 2% reduction in the agreed publish and read fee. This means that the fee for the first year of the contract will be €2,500 instead of €2,550.

Institutions that have not yet signed up can do so at any time during the five-year contract.