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ORCID: What is ORCID?

What is ORCID?

ORCID, short for Open Researcher and Contributor ID, is a unique identifier attached to researchers that enable consistent linkages between them and their scholarly publications. 

Having an ORCID ID means other researchers are no longer confusing you with someone else!

That ID tags you, and only you, with your work and follows you throughout your academic career. 

ORCID's tools and services provide you control over your registration, what is connected to your iD, and who can access your information. ORCID provides system security and protection to ensure that user control is maintained.

ORCID’s vision is a world where all who participate in research, scholarship, and innovation are uniquely identified and connected to their contributions across disciplines, borders, and time.​

For more information, please visit the ORCID webpage: https://orcid.org   

Why Should I Use ORCID?

Welcome to ORCID

1. Registering for an ORCID ID is free, easy, and its members get perks! 

2. No more name ambiguity! 

  • Organizations may integrate ORCID iDs into research systems and workflows using the Public API

3. Increases discoverability!

  • The community may access an annual data file of public information, available on the ORCID Web site
  • Individuals may receive updates to their ORCID record, such as linkages to published manuscripts in which they included their ORCID iD during the submission and review process

4. Saves time!

  • You can link your ORCID account with websites such as Web of Science, Figshare, Impactstory, and PubMed's My NCBI.  Once they're linked, you can push information back and forth between services.
  • For instance, you can import publications from databases like Web of Science to help populate your ORCID profile.  Then you can link your ORCID to your My NCBI account and make all your works that are not in PubMed easily available for inclusion in My NCBI's new SciENcv biosketch tool.

5. Connects faculty with librarians!

  • The ORCID community includes everyone in the research community who recognizes the need for researchers to be uniquely identified and connected with their contributions and affiliations. This means individual researchers, organizations involved in research – universities, laboratories, commercial research companies, research funders, publishers, patent offices, data repositories, professional societies, and more – as well as organizations that build systems that support information management among and between these groups.

6. Opens the door to possible funding! 

  • Embedding ORCID iDs in your workflows can help publishers and associations streamline your processes and therefore, open the door to funding opportunities.

For more information, please visit the ORCID webpage: https://orcid.org

ORCID Can.....

  • Alleviate mistaken identity
  • Reduce/eliminate need for researcher disambiguation processes                 
  • Enable machine-to-machine updates for researcher reporting
  • Strengthen connections/stickiness of researchers to our system
  • Maintain researcher connections despite name/affiliation changes
  • Facilitate community collaboration across similar institutions
  • Create higher impact communications and promotion
  • Clarify goals and expectations across disciplines
  • Standardize and improve the user/researcher experience
  • Increase efficiency and quality 
  • Help ensure sustainability through a community approach

How is ORCID Different From Other Researcher ID's?

ORCID v/s Other Researcher ID'sVarious other identifiers exist for authors and scholars but they work only at the level of a given national, proprietary, or disciplinary system.  The internationally established, disciplinary-neutral, platform-agnostic ORCID has been set up to act as glue between all the other Identifier systems in operation. In effect, ORCIDs are the "one scholarly identifier to rule them all."

ORCID is a non-profit organization based in the United States but the initiative represents hundreds of organizations worldwide, including publishers, funding bodies, research organizations, government agencies, learned societies, professional associations, non-profit research institutes, and many more. ORCIDs are being integrated into a wide range of information systems and Internet platforms worldwide, from proposal submission systems and journal manuscript submission systems to faculty profile databases and university research tracking systems.

The underlying principle of ORCID is that the author is in charge of her or his own ORCID record. The author can register for an ORCID, claim an ORCID created by an employer or membership organization, seed the ORCID profile with publications, presentations, datasets, and other research outputs, and control privacy settings to show as much or as little information to the public as desired.

Why ORCID?