The French Committee for open science has published the results of the call for proposals for the National Fund for Open Science (FNSO) and the CCSD is pleased to see its HALOWIN project selected.
HALOWIN stands for HAL Open Workflows and Interoperability. But what is it exactly ?
The HALOWIN project aims to improve the interoperability between HAL and peer reviewing services by developing a technical framework that will enable the automated exchange of documents, metadata and notifications. It is based on a partnership with Peer Community In (PCI), an open platform that offers a recommendation and evaluation service for preprints, and on Episciences, the overlay journals service developed by the CCSD.
The objective is not only to identify but also to develop and test all the features for the interconnection both between HAL and Episciences, and HAL and PCI.
The Covid-19 pandemic has pointed out the crucial importance of the direct communication of research results, as well as the need for their reliability and validation. The preprint allows researchers to immediately disseminate results deemed significant and to receive the first comments from their peers. This practice is being adopted by a growing number of disciplinary communities, especially as it benefits from institutional recognition, and as innovative services such as PCI have developed to ensure the scientific evaluation, improvement and validation of preprints.
However, there is no interoperability enabling smooth exchange and synchronization of data between peer reviewing services and open archives. This limits the use of preprints, restricts their qualification and requires time-consuming manual interventions, especially for researchers who have to submit their preprints on different platforms.
The HALOWIN project aims to resolve this point. It is based on HAL, which disseminates more than 39,000 preprints in open access. It is part of the international initiative launched by COAR to define protocols and open standards for interconnection between peer reviewing services and open archives.
Beyond facilitating the use for researchers, the project aims to promote the interoperability layer of HAL to different peer-reviewing services at the international level.