IdHAL is a service provided to all authors of a publication or data that have been uploaded in HAL, to handle every aspect of the so-called 'variants of an author' (or 'naming variants').
A single ID to unify all naming variants of an author
The way in which the name of an author appears in a bibliographic database can vary depending on how it was imported into the system.
- The most common variations concern the first name, whether the entire first name is registered or simply the initial: Pierre Dupont and P. Dupont are already two different naming variants.
- A composite first name can also create different naming variants, for example, the first name Marie Christine can appear as Marie-Christine, M.C., M.-C. or M-C.
- An error upon entering the data that exchanges the first and surname can also lead to a new naming variant.
The consequences are immediately apparent by a search of the data base based on first name and surname of the author. Ideally, however, listing the publications of e.g. Paul Emile Victor, one expects the system to list all publications of this author, independent of the way in which the name has been entered into the database.
If at some point of your career, you have published under a different name you are likely to face similar questions. The most common case is the use of maiden names: there might be some publications signed with your common name and others with your maiden name, while yet others with a combination of both. While it is in general impossible to change the publications retroactively, an author ID allows to group all of these naming variants together.
Other case in point: homonymes. If you find publications with your name which are not yours, an author ID allows to extract the list of only your articles.
How does IdHAL work?
The IdHAL consists of an ID and the naming variants associated with it throughout the repository.
Creating your IdHAL unifies all the naming variants that you have identified within the repository. No need to search yourself beforehand: when creating your IdHAL, HAL generates a list of naming variants, which you can check, edit and complete as necessary.
All naming variants continue to coexist, they are not replaced in the repository.
The naming variant you have chosen as your preferred one will be listed first at any upload to the repository. In online searches, a pictogram identifies an author as being associated with an IdHAL.
For more information see online documentation