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The library’s offerings are a service to DRFZ researchers.
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Hilmar Fünning
E-mail: library@drfz.de
Learn more about the strategic aims of DEAL and its negotiation objectives and how the Publish and Read agreements are driving the open access transformation.
Thanks to the transformative nationwide DEAL agreements, authors affiliated with more than 1000 DEAL institutions across Germany can publish their articles openly in thousands of high quality, peer-reviewed journals across all disciplines.
When publishing your research Open Access, choosing the right Creative Commons (CC) license is crucial. Among the various options, the DEAL-Konsortium recommends the CC BY (Attribution) license, because it stands out as the best choice for maximizing the impact and reach of your work.
Here’s why you as a scientific author should always prioritize CC BY over other licenses when offered, especially those with “non-commercial” clauses.
Open access agreement for Germany
Publish with Elsevier
Please note: Check the list of journals that are included in the agreement.
Download: Journal List.xlsx
Pricing Model
- Paper Charge Model: Participating institutions will pay a Publish and Read Fee (PAR Fee) or an Article Processing Charge (APC), as specified in the contract, for each publication in Elsevier’s Core Hybrid and Fully Gold journals by submitting corresponding authors assigned to their institution. All fees incurred will be invoiced to the participating institutions by MPDL Services gGmbH.
- The PAR Fee for publications in Core Hybrid journals is €2,550 net. In the case of a high participation rate (more than 90% of the German publication volume in Elsevier journals in 2022 is covered by the participating institutions), the PAR fee will be reduced by 2% to €2,500 net. In both cases, the PAR fee is subject to an annual increase of 3% from 2025.
- For publications in Cell Press and The Lancet hybrid journals, the APC is €6,450 net. It is subject to an annual increase of 4% from 2025.
- For publications in Elsevier’s Fully Gold Open Access journals, the APCs are calculated according to the list prices charged to participating institutions minus the agreed discounts.
Article Publishing Charge (APC) price list
Publishing with Elsevier: step-by-step:
Learn about the publication process and how to submit your manuscript. This tutorial will help you find the right journal and maximize the chance to be published.
Submit your paper (elsevier.com)
This video provides an overview of the author submission process in Editorial Manager.
Open access agreement for Germany
Information for authors
Author tutorials (Writing a journal manuscript)
Please note: Check the list of journals that are included in the agreement.
Here you find the link to the current Springer Journal List
Download: Journal List.xlsx
- The cost of Open Access publishing and reading access for subscription journals will be covered by the reallocation of former subscription fees as part of the DEAL transitional cost model “Publish and Read”. A Publish and Read (PAR) Fee of EUR 2,600 per publication in (hybrid) subscription journals has been agreed for the duration of the contract.
Open access agreement for authors at eligible German institutions
Wiley Author Services
Please note: You must publish open access in one of Wiley’s and Hindawi’s fully open access journals or a subscription journal that offers open access (hybrid journal).
Download the full list of journals here
- The costs for Open Access publishing and access to subscription journal content are covered through the reallocation of former subscription fees under the DEAL transitional cost model “Publish And Read,” via a unified Publish-and-Read Fee (PAR Fee). For the new Wiley contract starting in 2024, journals are categorized into three different tiers, each with different PAR Fees:
- Tier I: Journals in Tier I, for example, have a full-time, permanent editorial office or are led by full-time Editors-in-Chief employed by Wiley or a professional society. They have Hybrid APC list prices outside of DEAL exceeding 3,500 EUR – the APC price alone is not decisive.
- Tier II & III: Journals in Tier II & III differ based on their ownership status (Tier II – journals from professional societies or Wiley-owned).
| Tier | PAR Fee |
| I | 3.150 € |
| II | 2.700 € |
| II | 2.200 € |
Benefits for institutional partners
- Discounts are applied to your APCs, depending on the agreement (DRFZ: 10%).
- You’ll have access to a tailored dashboard where you can approve funding, monitor engagement and download reports.
- You’ll be given full control with every APC verified by a central contact point.
- You’ll have personalized, dedicated account management support to ensure a seamless partnership.
The DRFZ will participate in a Gold OA publication agreement from 2025.
Option 3 – Author pays (non-centralized billing):
The publisher bills the authors directly. The author receives a 15% discount on the APC for accepted manuscripts.
Article Processing Charges (APC) Information
The DRFZ concludes the Nature Publish & Read Agreement
With this agreement, DRFZ-authors will have the opportunity to publish their articles open access in Nature and 34 original Nature Research journals within the Nature Research portfolio.
Permanent access to all 58 Nature and Nature Branded Journals.
OA publishing: in every Nature Research Journal.
Nature Review Journals and Nature Protocols = read only.
Please note the Nature journals title list.
https://www.springernature.com/gp/open-research/institutional-agreements/ta-nature-de
The US publisher Public Library of Science (PLOS) publishes pure Open Access journals in the natural and life sciences and related disciplines.
The DRFZ is part of a consortium agreement with Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) that allows member institutions to participate in PLOS’ three innovative publishing models.
This two-year agreement (2023 – 2024) provides researchers affiliated with consortium members with unlimited publishing privileges in PLOS journals without them having to cover fees themselves (PLOS Biology, PLOS Climate, PLOS Computational Biology, PLOS Digital Health, PLOS Genetics, PLOS Global Public Health, PLOS Medicine, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, PLOS ONE, PLOS Pathogens, PLOS Sustainability and Transformation, PLOS Water).
To publish in PLOS as a corresponding author:
- Please follow the Submission Guidelines (Editorial Manager).
- While submitting your manuscript, please indicate German Rheumatism Research Centre Berlin (DRFZ) as your institution/affiliation (see further information here).
Starting 2025: The DRFZ takes part in Read-and-Publish Agreement between ZB MED and RUP
Rockefeller University Press (RUP) has joined an unlimited Read-and-Publish agreement with participating members of the ZB MED consortium. The agreement covers RUP’s three hybrid journals: Journal of Cell Biology (JCB), Journal of Experimental Medicine (JEM), and Journal of General Physiology (JGP).
How researchers immediately benefit from this agreement:
- Read: Unlimited access to all content published in JCB, JEM, and JGP immediately after publication.
- Publish: 100% coverage of the Immediate Open Access fees on any accepted manuscript when the primary corresponding author is based at a participating institution. There is no limit to the number of articles that may be published as a part of the deal.
Open Access research articles are published under a CC-BY license, directly deposited to PubMed Central (PMC) and subsequently to Europe PMC, and archived in LOCKSS/CLOCKSS.
https://rupress.org/journals/pages/read-and-publish-agreement-zb-med
Read-and-Publish Agreement Author Experience
If your institution has a Read-and-Publish agreement with Rockefeller University Press and you are the primary corresponding author publishing in Journal of Cell Biology, Journal of Experimental Medicine, or Journal of General Physiology, you are entitled to Gold Open Access publication with all fees covered by the deal. Please follow the steps in this document to ensure that your manuscript is recognized as part of the deal.
https://rupress.org/journals/pages/rup-read-and-publish-guide
DRFZ/MPI Local Catalogue
Please send book requests by mail to library@drfz.de
Karlsruhe Virtual Catalogue KVK
Directory of Open Access Books DOAB
NCBI Bookshelf
Google Books
Databases
Alternative Access Strategies
Most entries in a GS search come with several different access options, with a link to direct access when available
BASE – Bielefelder Academic Search Engine
One of the world’s most voluminous search engines for academic web resources, provides more than 120 million documents of which about 60% are open access
Free, legal research papers, covers also preprint archives, institutional and subject repositories and researchGate. Additionally it allows you to send a request for any article that isn’t already covered and the OAButton team will try to make it available
Preprint server
Tool for academic networking: register for free, create your own profile, share research, ask authors for publications
The uploading of articles which are not published open access may violate the copyright.
Unpaywall is an open database that provides links to more than 23 million open-access resources. It harvests content directly from over 50,000 journals’ open-access repositories and open data from PubMed Central, the DOAJ, Crossref (particulary their license info), and DataCite.
If all else fails please order the article from your library.
The Leibniz Association’s Open Access Publishing Fund supports authors who intend to publish articles in open access journals that impose article processing charges (APCs).
Open Access Monitor
The open access monitor records the publication output of German academic institutions in scientific journals.
Through analyses of subscription fees and publication fees, the transition towards an open access system is supported.
Open Access to Scientific Information Open Access Net
Directory of Open Access Journals DOAJ
Directory of Open Access Books DOAB
SHERPA/RoMEO (Publisher copyright polocies and self-archiving)
Open Access at the Leibniz Association
Leibniz Open (Leibniz Association Repository)