Agreement between Germany and Elsevier
Elsevier and Projekt DEAL have established an agreement to support authors in Germany who wish to publish open access.
The cost of publishing open access is covered under the terms of this agreement. When publishing open access in eligible hybrid, Cell Press, The Lancet, and fully gold open access journals, eligible corresponding authors from most participating institutions will not have to pay an article publishing charge (APC). However, some institutions may pass on some or all of the publishing fees to their authors. You may wish to check your institutional policy with your local library or OA officer.
How does the process work?
The process of publishing under the agreement is straightforward:
Step 1 – Once the journal accepts your article, you will receive an email containing a link to the “post acceptance author journey”.
Step 2 – You will be asked to review your affiliation and funder details. Based on this information, you will see personalised publishing options including the option to publish under the agreement.
Step 3 – You will confirm your publishing choices and complete the post acceptance journey.
Step 4 – Your institution will validate your eligibility for the agreement.
Step 5 – You and your co-authors will receive an email to confirm that the APC will be covered by the agreement.
During the submission process, the system will present you with personalised publishing options including any agreement or offer that you may be eligible for. You can indicate your publishing choice during submission, but you are not required to finalize your choice until after acceptance.
Which institutions are covered by this agreement?
This agreement supports corresponding authors (see FAQ at the bottom of this page) affiliated with a participating DEAL institution opens in new tab/window.
Which journals are included in this agreement?
Authors can publish eligible articles (see FAQ at the bottom of this page) in a wide variety of participating Elsevier journals across a range of disciplines.
What are the author benefits of publishing open access with Elsevier?
When you publish open access with Elsevier, you get the attention you deserve. We offer authors:
Choice — we have open access journals across every scientific discipline
Support — receive expert support throughout submission, during peer review and post-acceptance
Visibility — your final published article will be published on ScienceDirect, the number one research platform in the world
To learn more about the benefits of publishing open access with Elsevier, please visit our open access author hub.
Are there other publishing options?
Authors can continue to choose to publish under the subscription model which includes the option to self-archive their manuscript (Green Open Access) in line with Elsevier’s sharing policy.
Eligibility FAQs
Articles must have an original acceptance date between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2028. Some institutions may join the agreement from 1 September 2023. Check with your institution for details.
For the purpose of eligibility under the agreement, there can only be one corresponding author. The corresponding author is the author who submits the manuscript and other documentation to the journal and is the primary contact between the journal and the co-authors. Importantly, the corresponding author’s affiliation will be used to determine eligibility for the publishing agreement. The affiliations of other co-authors are not relevant for agreement eligibility.
The corresponding author’s responsibilities include:
Ensuring that all authors have complied with the journal’s policies, including reviewing and approving the final version of the manuscript prior to submission.
Distributing and responding to communications from the journal (e.g., decision letters, reviewers’ reports).
Completing the post publication author journey including signing the Journal Publishing License Agreement, Rights and Access information form, and selection of open access options on behalf of, and with the agreement of, all co-authors of the paper.
Journals may follow requests of the team of authors and display other corresponding authors in the published article. Which corresponding authors are displayed on the published paper, however, is not relevant for agreement eligibility.
With this agreement, authors have a choice between a commercial (CC BY) or non-commercial (CC BY-NC-ND) license. The licence choice is dependent on the journal selected. Please refer to the journal's homepage for specific details. The DEAL Consortium and the Alliance of German Science Organisations recommend using the CC-BY license for scientific publications. CC-BY is the most liberal type of license, allowing the widest possible reuse of your work and ensuring that you are credited as the author of the original.
The following article types are part of this agreement:
Case report
Data in Brief
Full-length article
Microarticle
Original Software Publication
Protocol
Replication Study
Review article
Short Communication
Short Survey
Video Article
Please note that Society membership discounts cannot be passed on to the DEAL agreement. Corresponding authors who wish to benefit from Society membership discounts should reach out to Elsevier or their local library.