HAL
by Baptiste Blondelle · Uncategorized
Easily retrieve publications associated with authors and other entities (structures, collections, research projects).
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Health
B 84/100
Few reviews
Active installs
600+
≈600 estimated
Momentum
+21%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “science”, “entities” and “entity” to your wp.org tags. You rank #5, #18 and #20 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 3 listed these are the slots worth spending.
84 health vs 58 average across 25,751 Uncategorized plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →3.7%
of downloads still active
At least 600 of 16.2K lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median Uncategorized plugin keeps 0.6%, across 17,772 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other Uncategorized plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
This plugin shipped 4 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 80 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
3.5★ over 4 reviews, smoothed to 4.06★ and held back under 25 reviews
3 of 5 tags set · short description in place
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
43
Momentum
Holding steady
+0.1
Velocity
places per keyword, 19d
29%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 19d
0.0
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| open science your tag | #1 | #5 | 0 |
| hal your tag | #1 | #2 | 0 |
| science | #5 | #14 | down 1 |
| open archive your tag | #17 | #23 | down 3 |
| entities | #18 | #23 | up 3 |
| entity | #20 | #24 | up 2 |
7 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 6 listed. 1 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words).
What to do about it
- Add “science”, “entities” and “entity” to your wp.org tags. You rank #5, #18 and #20 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 3 listed these are the slots worth spending.
Daily downloads
Since 5 Oct 2022 · 1,489 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 615 · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
4
releases in the last 12 months
4mo ago
latest release · v2.7.2 · 25 Jun 2026
29
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 72% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “600+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 4 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just over 600.
At the current install trend, crossing 700+ in roughly 631 days.
Install history since 4 Oct 2022
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ sympythy5.1y ago
Le plugin HAL permet très rapidement et simplement d’intégrer une bibliographie dans une page de son site WordPress (depuis HAL), ainsi qu’une liste des dernières publications. J’espère qu’il évoluera en offrant plus de possibilités de configuration tout en gardant sa simplicité.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ micheltam10.7y ago
Il serait sympa que ceux qui mettent de mauvaises notes tiennent compte des évolutions et des correctifs apportés au plugin qui est très intéressant et fonctionne très bien sur la plateforme de blogging scientifique Hypotheses.org Le développeur est réactif et prend en compte les demandes d’évolutions. Bravo Baptiste !
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Blackbolt10.9y ago
Un plugin très intéressant. Toutefois deux petites critiques : – le chargement de la page est lent – les options d’affichage très réduites N.B. il nécessite une version récente de PHP (a priori 5.5 au moins)
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ phaessig11.7y ago
Many thanks to the CCSD for proposing this very nice plugins. Major complaint the use of Bootstrap CSS breaks the layout of my website when the plugin is activated (cf. support thread). Some minor complaints: I’m using the “Latest publication” widget and my main complain is the solid black line between entries (I’m using a Twenty Eleven child theme). I’ve edited the hal/css/style.css file to comment out the border-bottom: 1px solid black; in the .liwidget class. Also, there is one blank bullet at the end of list… Error notice: a fairly recent PHP version is required (>= 5.4 apparently). I had, without knowing, PHP 5.2 and installing the HAL 1.0 plugin failed at activation, with the following message: Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error. Parse error: syntax error, unexpected '[' in /home/xnolela/www/blog/wp-content/plugins/hal/wp-hal.php on line 102 This problem is discussed in the support forum: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-cannot-be-activated-3
Read on wp.org ↗
Security history
via Wordfence IntelligenceThe 1 disclosed vulnerability is patched in the current version (2.7.2). Sites still on an older version should update.
- 2021-10-14 CVE-2021-39345 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 2.1.1 Patched in 2.2
Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.
CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Not measured yet for this plugin’s topics. Its tracked searches are not among the measured topics. See the topics measured so far.
Readme readiness
3 of 8 pass · checked 30 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 4 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 3 of 4 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ! Names what it works with Names no plugin, service or platform it works with.
- ! Headings and lists 0 headings and 0 lists; assistants quote headed sections and bullet lists, not paragraphs.
- ! Enough to quote 282 characters of description; under 1,000 there is little to quote.
- ✓ Tags match the text 2 of 3 tags appear in the text; "open science" does not.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-28 500+ → 600+ up after 1 days in tier
- 2026-10-27 600+ → 500+ down after 4 days in tier
- 2026-10-23 500+ → 600+ up after 680 days in tier
- 2024-12-12 400+ → 500+ up after 5 days in tier
- 2024-12-07 500+ → 400+ down after 293 days in tier
- 2024-02-18 400+ → 500+ up after 10 days in tier
- 2024-02-08 500+ → 400+ down after 4 days in tier
- 2024-02-04 400+ → 500+ up after 52 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for HAL into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/hal" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="HAL — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> HAL: 600+ active installs, 3.5★ (4 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/hal
Spotted a number that looks wrong? Report a data issue and we'll check it against the source.