The HAL deposit form has been improved to better manage links between your publication and other resources, such as a dataset, source code archived on Software Heritage, or another HAL deposit. A single field now consolidates all types of identifiers (DOI, HAL, SWHID), with instant verification for greater reliability. The relationship between resources is specified using a standardised vocabulary. The added bonus? If the resource is stored in a partner repository (Nakala et recherche.data.gouv), its information – or even the resource itself – is visible in your HAL deposit, making it easier to find.
Improving the link between publications and their associated data by streamlining the process through automated mechanisms is one of the objectives of the HALiance project. The HAL deposit form is therefore evolving as part of a wider overhaul of the Resource Relationship System. This initiative aims to standardise the management of relationships, both internally (“Link the resources” feature for linking multiple HAL deposits) and externally (linking HAL deposits to resources available on Nakala, recherche.data.gouv, Software Heritage and other research data repositories).
Practical use
Is the resource you want to link to available in HAL, Nakala or recherche.data.gouv? You can also search by author name, title, etc. Just choose from the suggested options.
In addition, a set of relationship types allows you to specify the link between your deposit and the other resource. The list provided is based on a standardised vocabulary developed by DataCite and widely used internationally. A detailed description of the relationship typology can be found in the HAL user documentation, along with practical use cases to guide you. For example, if a publication is linked to an image archived on Nakala, the appropriate relationship type would be “Cite”.
Increasing the visibility and impact of research data
Researchers are strongly encouraged to deposit their publications in open archives and to make their research data available in dedicated repositories. Strengthening the link between HAL and data repositories is essential to ensure transparency, reproducibility and validation of research results.
It will also encourage data sharing and re-use within the scientific community, thereby increasing the impact of publications.
The partnership with the Nakala and recherche.data.gouv repositories allows anyone viewing your HAL deposit to access the metadata of the datasets associated with your publication – or even view the resource itself, as shown in the example below.
To ensure that information is usable by machines, including content aggregators and search engines, the TEI format of the deposit also contains structured data. This includes the type of resource (image, dataset, software, etc.) based on an internationally recognised typology. Three new fields have been added to the APIs: relatedData_s, relatedSoftwares_s and relatedPublication_s.
Processing existing data and future developments
Prior to deployment, 32,037 deposits with relationships were identified: 80% of these relationships linked HAL deposits. 925 relationships involved data stored in recherche.data.gouv,
180 relationships involved Nakala data, and 333 relationships linked a HAL deposit to code archived on Software Heritage.
The transition to the new relationship system requires the processing of existing data for migration. This process includes necessary data cleansing, as identifier entries were not previously controlled. All repositories have been re-indexed after implementation.
The next step is to implement a mechanism for exchanging relationships with relevant repositories via the COAR Notify protocol, enabling them to retrieve their connection to HAL.