HAL (short for ''Hyper Articles en Ligne'') is an open archive where
authors can deposit scholarly documents from all
academic fields. It has a very good position in the international web repository ranking.
History
HAL was started in 2001 by
Franck Laloë, then at
Ecole Normal Superieure, and is run by the ''
Centre pour la communication scientifique directe'', a
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
computing centre, which is part of the
French National Centre for Scientific Research, CNRS. Other French institutions, such as
INRIA, have joined the system. While it is primarily directed towards French academics, participation is not restricted to them.
Public use
Documents in HAL are uploaded either by one of the authors with the consent of the others or by an authorized person on their behalf. Since 2017 it's also possible to use
Dissem.in, a tool for easy and semi-automated deposit.
HAL is a tool for direct scientific communication between academics. A text posted to HAL is normally comparable to that of a paper that an investigator might submit for publication in a
peer-reviewed
Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work (peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...
scientific journal
In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research.
Content
Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such as s ...
or conference proceedings. A document deposited in HAL will not be subjected to any detailed scientific evaluation, but simply a rapid overview, to ensure that it falls within the category defined above.
An uploaded document does not need to have been published or even to be intended for publication: It may be posted to HAL as long as its scientific content justifies it. But should the article be published, contributors are invited to indicate the relevant bibliographic information and the