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HAL here means the HAL open archive at hal.science, France’s multidisciplinary open repository for research outputs. It is not the Hardware Abstraction Layer in operating systems, and not the fictional computer. HAL is run by the CCSD (Centre pour la communication scientifique directe), and its own documentation describes it as an open archive for sharing research results in open access, whether published or not. This guide walks through the account, the deposit, the idHAL author identifier and the link to ORCID, using the exact labels on the French interface.
What HAL is: official name, operator and scope
HAL (Hyper Articles en Ligne) is a French multidisciplinary open archive operated by the CCSD. The official documentation at doc.hal.science defines it as « une archive ouverte multidisciplinaire permettant de partager en accès libre les résultats de recherche, publiés ou non » (a multidisciplinary open archive for sharing research results in open access, published or not). The documentation credits the CCSD and presents HAL as France’s national open archive for researchers at academic institutions, public or private; institutions outside France can use it too.
HAL is a repository, not a journal. What you deposit is either the full text of a publication or only its reference (a metadata record). That distinction matters for rights, covered below. For the general idea of depositing a manuscript in a repository, see CASRAI’s guides on self-archiving for green open access and the dictionary entry for green open access.
Who should register
Anyone who wants to deposit needs a HAL account. The official account page states that creating an account is mandatory in order to deposit. The deposit documentation addresses both authors and third-party depositors (people depositing on behalf of an author), and it asks that the deposit be made with the agreement of all co-authors.
How to register, build your profile and deposit
Step 1: create the account
The official steps (page “Créer son compte et compléter son profil”) are:
- Go to
hal.scienceand click Se connecter (top right). - Choose + Créer un compte.
- Fill in the form: a login of at least 3 characters (it cannot be changed later), a password of at least 10 characters with an upper-case letter, a lower-case letter and a digit, your name and email, and the captcha.
- Click Créer un compte, then open the activation link sent by email (check your spam folder if it does not arrive).
Step 2: choose where to deposit
The deposit documentation lists several interfaces, and states that whichever one you use, all deposits end up in HAL: HAL (all document types), HAL-SHS (humanities and social sciences), HAL-thèses (theses and HDR), MédiHAL (images, video and audio), and institutional portals if your institution has one. One deposit can appear in several portals depending on its metadata (discipline, document type, author affiliations) without any extra action from you.
Step 3: deposit a document
The documented sequence (page “Effectuer le dépôt”) is: have an account, sign in, click + Déposer, choose the document type, add the publication file or choose to add none, pick a method, then check and validate. The two methods are:
- Saisie manuelle: you fill in the required metadata fields (title, authors, abstract and so on).
- Extraction automatique: HAL pre-fills the form from the PDF or from a DOI. For a PDF, the Grobid tool extracts metadata such as authors, title, abstract, keywords, journal name, publication date, DOI and ISSN; it does not work on scanned pages. For a DOI, enter it without the URL prefix and click Récupérer les métadonnées; HAL queries Crossref and DataCite. Check the pre-filled values before you validate.
The documentation also offers a deposit-suggestion service (Suggestion de dépôts) that can deposit full texts automatically under certain conditions; see the official page for the conditions.
One tip from the official page is worth repeating: check that the author name HAL retrieved is associated with an idHAL.
Rights before you upload a file
For files produced by a publisher, the documentation says to check copyright before depositing. It names these places to check: Open Policy Finder, Mir@bel and Dulcinea. CASRAI explains the first of these in how to check a journal’s self-archiving policy. Author-produced files can be deposited; publisher files only under certain conditions.
What the record contains and how it connects to evaluation and funding
A HAL record is a metadata record, optionally with a full-text file. The metadata the form can collect or extract includes authors and affiliations, title, abstract, keywords, journal, date, DOI, licence of the main file and ANR project (the French national research agency). Documentation sections on Signaler un financement (report a funding source) and on identifiers let you tie the record to funders and to other databases.
The official guide also lists dedicated sections on evaluation uses of HAL data, namely Bilan Hcéres – outil d’aide and Campagne RIBAC. Read the current official page for each before relying on it for an evaluation file, because requirements are set by the evaluating bodies, not by CASRAI.
Identifiers: idHAL, ORCID and others
idHAL
The idHAL is the unique identifier that HAL offers to authors. The official page states that it lets an authenticated user group all their publications under one profile, whatever name forms were used (for example “Cerise Courbet” and “C. Courbet”), and choose a default form. It groups author forms without merging them, and it is used to build a CV page. The steps are: sign in with Se connecter, choose a login method, select Mon IdHAL, fill in the mandatory IdHAL field (by default firstname-lastname) and save.
Two warnings from the official page. First, once saved, the idHAL cannot be changed, because it forms the URL of your HAL CV; apostrophes, dots and accented characters are not accepted and spaces become hyphens. Second, the official steps for creating it start from your account and do not mention a prior deposit; it is set up from the account page.
Connecting ORCID
The ORCID field appears only after the idHAL exists: create the idHAL, return to the idHAL management page, and use the ORCID connection button. HAL’s ORCID page confirms the order (idHAL first, then ORCID) and says you can then sign in to HAL with ORCID (Avec ORCID). If you do not yet have an ORCID iD, see how to register, find and search for ORCID iDs.
Getting HAL deposits onto your ORCID record works in one direction, HAL to ORCID. HAL’s documentation has a section, “Compléter son dossier ORCID avec ses dépôts HAL”, and ORCID’s own blog describes the route: in ORCID choose Works, +Add works, Search & link, HAL, allow the update, then ADD TO ORCID per publication; from HAL you can also use My space / Send documents to ORCID. That ORCID post dates from 2020, so check the current ORCID documentation before following it. The general method is in how to add publications to your ORCID record.
Other researcher identifiers
Under Autres identifiants chercheur in the idHAL page you can store identifiers from other services. The official list names arXiv, ResearcherID, IdRef, VIAF, ISNI and Google Scholar Citation Profile. Scopus Author ID is not in that list, so do not expect a dedicated Scopus field. The background on identifier types is in the CASRAI entry for researcher identifier.
For document identifiers, HAL’s identifiers page says to enter only the identifier, not the full URL (for example 10.1002/cpa.21496, not https://doi.org/10.1002/cpa.21496). It lists DOI, arXiv, PubMed (PMID), PubMed Central (PMCID), SWHID (Software Heritage) and PPN among those from which metadata can be extracted.
Common problems
- The wrong idHAL string. It cannot be edited after saving. Decide on the form before you click save.
- No ORCID field. It only appears after the idHAL has been created; go back into the idHAL management page.
- Activation email missing. Check spam, as the official page advises.
- Metadata not retrieved. The official page names two causes: a mistyped DOI, or metadata not yet supplied by the publisher. The PDF extraction tool does not work on scanned pages.
- Author name not linked to an idHAL. The deposit page tells you to check this before validating, so your deposit lands on your profile.
- Publisher file rights. Check before uploading a publisher PDF; HAL also lets you deposit the reference only, without the file.
FAQ
What does HAL stand for in research?
HAL is the French national open archive at hal.science, operated by the CCSD. The name is commonly expanded as Hyper Articles en Ligne.
Is HAL free to use?
Check the official site for current terms; this guide does not quote fees or dates.
Can researchers outside France use HAL?
Yes. The official documentation says foreign institutions can use it.
Do I need an idHAL to deposit?
An account is mandatory to deposit. The idHAL is created afterwards from the account, and the deposit page recommends checking that your author name is tied to one.
Does HAL send my records to ORCID automatically?
The documented route is manual: connect ORCID to your idHAL, then send documents to ORCID from HAL, or add them from ORCID’s Search & link tool.
Sources
All pages read on 2026-10-29:
