A Publisher’s Perspective on the First Year of the Open Access Transformation in Germany Through Projekt DEAL

"Q: What have been the biggest challenges for Wiley so far?

A: On the publisher’s side, we had to build on our existing publishing infrastructure to handle Projekt DEAL articles. The timelines were extremely tight but we were able to implement the necessary adjustments for our publication workflows and systems to ensure a smooth publishing experience for eligible authors. Another challenge was to facilitate the matching process between authors and participating institutions: Without a solid and reliable workflow to identify authors from eligible institutions, it would have not been possible for us to handle Projekt DEAL articles in an efficient manner. Overcoming these obstacles helped us gain valuable experience for subsequent agreements.

Q: What have been the most significant benefits of the agreement for researchers and institutions in the first year?

A: Projekt DEAL represents a change process for all parties involved. All participants are confronted with the challenges of actively shaping this process and dealing with it in the best possible way. For libraries in Germany, Projekt DEAL is changing the way research funds and library budgets are spent: The "Publish and Read (PAR)" fee combines access to the 1,600 journals in the Wiley portfolio with the opportunity to publish research articles open access in Wiley journals, which are made available to a worldwide readership free of charge. This is not only a more sustainable way of spending budgets, but also a huge opportunity for institutions in Germany to increase their reputation worldwide. With Projekt DEAL, researchers no longer need to worry about obtaining the appropriate funding for their OA publications in Wiley journals. And many studies have shown that publishing open access results in an increase of citations and impact...."