The Karl Paul Hensel Prize from the Doris and Dr. Michael Hagemann Foundation was awarded to Dr. Benedikt Schmal during an academic ceremony for his dissertation titled “Competition in the Academic Publishing Market.” In it, Schmal examines, among other things, how the introduction of the DEAL agreement has affected researchers’ publication decisions. DEAL is a nationwide agreement between German research institutions and major academic publishers that governs access to and payment for academic publishing content.

With this award, the foundation honors outstanding contributions in the field of economic and corporate regulation that advance the scholarly development of regulatory frameworks. The laudatory address for the award recipient was delivered by his doctoral advisor, Justus