An effective relativistic field theory is used to investigate nuclei along the proton drip line together with proton emission in heavy deformed nuclei. Nucleons are described as Dirac particles moving in self‐consistent relativistic scalar and time‐like vector fields. Pairing correlations are treated within the relativistic Hartree‐Bogoliubov (RHB) approximation using a finite range Gogny interaction. This method provides a fully microscopic and universal description of nuclei in the vicinity and far from the valley of stability. It allows the determination of the proton drip line and the investigation of proton emitters, in particular the calculation of the proton separation energies, the quantum numbers of the corresponding proton levels and their spectroscopic factors. We find good agreement for experimentally known proton emitters in medium heavy nuclei and we predict new possible proton emitters below Z=50. © 2003 American Institute of Physics