# HAL Open Science Papers Scraper (`ninhothedev/hal-science-scraper`) Actor

$0.5/1K 🔥 HAL Science Papers! Search French open-access papers with authors & abstracts. No key. JSON, CSV, Excel or API in seconds. Build scholarly and citation datasets ⚡

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ninhothedev/hal-science-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [ninhothedev](https://apify.com/ninhothedev) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $0.50 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## HAL Open Science Papers Scraper

Scrape **HAL** (Hyper Articles en Ligne), **France's national open archive**, for scholarly papers, theses and preprints — complete with authors, research labs, DOIs, keywords and open-access PDF links. **No API key, no login.**

HAL is run by the CNRS/CCSD and is the mandatory deposit archive for most French universities and research institutions. It is the single best source for **French and European research output**, including a huge amount of material (theses, conference papers, reports, book chapters) that never reaches the big commercial indexes.

Runs at roughly **~$0.5 per 1,000 papers** on the Apify platform.

### What you get

Each record (`type: "paper"`):

| Field | Description |
|-------|-------------|
| `hal_id` | HAL internal doc id |
| `hal_uri` / `url` | Canonical HAL landing page |
| `title` | Paper title |
| `abstract` | Abstract (capped at 4000 chars) |
| `authors` / `author_count` | Full author name list |
| `doc_type` / `doc_type_label` | HAL type code + human label (ART = Journal article, COMM = Conference paper, THESE = Thesis, OUV = Book, COUV = Book chapter, ...) |
| `journal` | Journal title |
| `doi` | DOI when available |
| `produced_date` / `publication_date` | ISO `YYYY-MM-DD` dates |
| `keywords` | Author keywords |
| `labs` | Research laboratory / structure names |
| `language` | Document language |
| `is_open_access` | Whether a free full text exists |
| `pdf_url` | Direct PDF link when open access |
| `query`, `source`, `scraped_at` | Provenance |

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `mode` | select | Scraping mode — `search` (Solr query). |
| `queries` | array | Free-text search queries (prefilled `["deep learning","climate change"]`). |
| `docTypeFilter` | string | Optional HAL docType code, e.g. `ART`, `COMM`, `THESE`. |
| `openAccessOnly` | boolean | Only return open-access records (default `false`). |
| `fromYear` | integer | Only papers produced in this year or later. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Max papers across all queries (default 200, max 5000). |

#### Example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "queries": ["deep learning", "quantum computing"],
  "docTypeFilter": "ART",
  "openAccessOnly": true,
  "fromYear": 2020,
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

### Use cases

- **Research monitoring** — track new deposits on any topic across French/EU institutions.
- **French / EU literature reviews** — surface theses, HDRs and conference papers absent from commercial indexes.
- **Open-access harvesting** — pull free full-text PDFs at scale via `is_open_access` + `pdf_url`.
- **Bibliometrics** — analyse output by lab (`labs`), document type, year and open-access status.

### How this differs from our other paper scrapers

HAL is a **national repository**, not a global index — its edge is **coverage of French and European research** (theses, conference papers, reports, grey literature) with rich **laboratory/affiliation** metadata. Pick the source that matches your need:

- **[HAL scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/hal-science-scraper)** (this actor) — France's national open archive; strongest for French/EU output, labs and theses.
- **[Semantic Scholar scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/semantic-scholar-scraper)** — large AI-driven global graph with citations and influence metrics.
- **[CORE scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/core-ac-scraper)** — worldwide aggregation of open-access repositories.
- **[OpenAIRE scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/openaire-scraper)** — EU-funded research graph linking publications, projects and funders.
- **[Unpaywall scraper](https://apify.com/ninhothedev/unpaywall-scraper)** — DOI-to-free-PDF lookup across all publishers.

If your interest is French/European scholarship, labs, or theses, HAL is the right starting point; combine it with the others for global reach.

### Data source

Public HAL Solr API: `https://api.archives-ouvertes.fr/search` — free, keyless, maintained by the CCSD.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

Scraping mode. Currently only 'search' is supported: run a full-text Solr query against HAL.

## `queries` (type: `array`):

One or more free-text search queries. Each is run against HAL's full-text Solr index and paginated up to maxItems.

## `docTypeFilter` (type: `string`):

Optional HAL docType code to restrict results, e.g. 'ART' (journal article), 'COMM' (conference paper), 'THESE' (thesis), 'OUV' (book), 'COUV' (book chapter). Leave empty for all types.

## `openAccessOnly` (type: `boolean`):

If enabled, only return records flagged as open access (with a freely available full text).

## `fromYear` (type: `integer`):

Optional lower bound on the production year (inclusive). Only papers produced in this year or later are returned.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of papers to scrape across all queries combined. Capped at 5000.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "search",
  "queries": [
    "deep learning",
    "climate change"
  ],
  "openAccessOnly": false,
  "maxItems": 200
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "queries": [
        "deep learning",
        "climate change"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ninhothedev/hal-science-scraper").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "queries": [
        "deep learning",
        "climate change",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ninhothedev/hal-science-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "queries": [
    "deep learning",
    "climate change"
  ]
}' |
apify call ninhothedev/hal-science-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,ninhothedev/hal-science-scraper"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/Aem5vdghRWo59Izkz/builds/ouG4AtsdAwtR5BbYV/openapi.json