Is this the same as Springer Compact?
The Springer Nature Projekt DEAL agreement covers publishing fees for Springer hybrid journals and from 1st August also fully open access publishing (see below). Corresponding authors* affiliated with German institutions can publish their research open access with Springer.
From August 2020, the agreement will also cover publications in Springer Nature's fully open access journals. Imprints included are: BMC, Nature Research, Palgrave and SpringerOpen.
The links in the 'Publishing open access' section of this page provide more detail about participating institutions and journals that are currently eligible.
*Acting as main contact for Springer Nature correspondence after editorial acceptance.
Why has this agreement been reached?
Through this agreement, Projekt DEAL has repurposed former subscription spending to finance open access publication. Corresponding authors* affiliated with German institutions can publish their research open access in Springer hybrid journals, and will also have access to read subscription content from these journals.
From August 2020, a 20% discount on the publishing fee will be applied to all content published through the open access agreement for Germany in BMC journals and SpringerOpen journals. Authors will not be invoiced by Springer Nature and the 20% discount applies to the fees paid centrally.
*Acting as main contact for Springer Nature correspondence after editorial acceptance.
Are discounts or waivers available to me as an author?
The Springer Nature Projekt DEAL agreement provides significant savings on the list APCs of the vast majority of Springer Nature open access journals for all DEAL institutions and their authors. As such, we do not provide ad hoc waivers or discounts for authors from a DEAL institution on the grounds of financial need.
Some authors, in their capacity as Editorial Board Members or reviewers, may be entitled to additional discounts or waivers on APCs in certain journals. In these instances, the extra waiver or discount percentage will be applied on top of the APC amount as defined under the conditions of the DEAL agreement, on article acceptance.
Payment for open access publishing under the Springer Nature Projekt DEAL agreement is centralized, and we advise authors to speak to their institution to clarify how costs of APCs are handled at their institution.
What happens with BMC and SpringerOpen memberships?
The Germany country-level agreement will absorb any BMC memberships of participating institutions.
Articles published in BMC or SpringerOpen journals through July 2020 will be charged to your institution’s BMC membership. Any articles published from August 2020 will be identified as part of the new agreement and be charged to DEAL (even if previously submitted under your membership).
The author identification process will be slightly different for the new agreement. For BMC memberships, eligible authors are identified at submission. For the DEAL open access agreement for Germany, identification will happen at the point of acceptance. This means that if you have submitted your article under a BMC membership but publication happens in August 2020, or later, you will need to re-confirm your institutional affiliation at acceptance.
Who can I contact for more information?
Please email us at oa.verification@springernature.com if you need further assistance.
Alternatively, visit DEAL’s FAQ for authors.