Project DEAL

Project DEAL Project DEAL is a national consortium initiative in Germany that negotiated country-wide agreements with major scholarly publishers to transform subscription payments into open-access publishing fees. The initiative involved large German institutions, global publishers, and national organizations to reshape access to scientific journals and promote open-access policies. Project DEAL coordinated negotiations, contracts, and implementation across universities and research libraries to influence publishing economics and scholarly communication.

Background and Origins

Project DEAL originated from coordinated efforts by the German Rectors' Conference, the Max Planck Society, and the German Research Foundation to address rising subscription costs charged by commercial publishers such as Elsevier, Springer Nature, and Wiley. The initiative followed discussions at forums including the Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association meetings, the Berlin Open Access Conference, and recommendations from the Bonn Declaration on Open Access. Early drivers included high-profile disputes like the cancellation of subscriptions by the University of California and negotiation stand-offs involving institutions such as the University of Konstanz and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Project DEAL built on precedents from consortia in Sweden, Finland, and the Netherlands that had pursued transformative agreements with publishers.

Negotiation Process and Agreements

Negotiations led by the Alliance of German Science Organizations and representatives from the German Research Foundation pursued "publish-and-read" contracts that combined reading access with article processing charges for authors. Major milestone agreements were concluded with Wiley-Blackwell and with Springer Nature after protracted talks influenced by legal frameworks like the European Commission open-access policies and mandates from funders such as the European Research Council and the Wellcome Trust. The negotiations involved cost models, article caps, metadata sharing with services like Crossref, and clauses on licensing terms tied to Creative Commons licenses. Resistance from publishers, exemplified by standoffs similar to those between Elsevier and national consortia in the United Kingdom and France, shaped bargaining positions and led to phased pilot agreements and renewal clauses.

Implementation and Participating Institutions

Implementation required coordination among major German universities including the Humboldt University of Berlin, the University of Munich, the Technical University of Munich, the University of Heidelberg, and consortium members across the State Library of Berlin system and the Bavarian State Library. The project involved liaison with the Max Planck Digital Library and the German National Library of Science and Technology to manage repository workflows, article workflows, and identification of corresponding authors from institutions such as the Free University of Berlin and the University of Cologne. Implementation also drew on university presses, regional consortia like the Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek Göttingen, and infrastructures including ORCID and the Directory of Open Access Journals for compliance tracking. Administrative processes integrated with institutional research offices at entities like the Fraunhofer Society and the Leibniz Association for author fee allocations and reporting.

Impact on Open Access and Publishing Models

Project DEAL influenced the spread of transformative agreements across Europe, encouraging publishers and consortia in regions such as Scandinavia and Continental Europe to experiment with similar models. The agreements affected publishing behavior at institutions such as the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and the California Digital Library by highlighting national bargaining strategies. Advocates pointed to increased availability of articles under Creative Commons Attribution terms in journals from Springer Nature and Wiley as evidence of systemic change. The project stimulated debates within scholarly bodies like the Committee on Publication Ethics and the International Association of Scientific, Technical and Medical Publishers about sustainable funding, equity for researchers from less-funded institutions such as the University of the Highlands and Islands, and the role of nonprofit publishers like the Public Library of Science in a reconfigured market.

Criticism and Controversies

Critics argued the agreements risked entrenching major publishers' market power, citing concerns raised by watchdogs such as the European University Association and policy analysts at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Some faculty at institutions like the University of Freiburg and the Technical University of Berlin voiced worries that article processing charges could disadvantage researchers funded by smaller grants or based at non-participating institutions like the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin satellite centers. Legal and competitive concerns drew attention from the Bundeskartellamt and prompted comparisons with antitrust debates in the United States Department of Justice actions against corporate mergers. Transparency critics pointed to opaque price components in deals with publishers such as Elsevier and John Wiley & Sons, while open-access advocates from groups like Open Access Scholarly Publishers Association and SPARC argued for alternative models including diamond open access supported by institutions like the Scielo network and the European University Institute.

Category:Open access Category:Publishing