“ORCID is a non-profit organization supported by a global community of member organizations, including research institutions, publishers, funders, professional associations, service providers, and other stakeholders in the research ecosystem.”

In the scholarly communication landscape, creating your unique profile has an advantage of establishing your identity in terms of your research outputs and interests. Tools for building profiles can be grouped in three broad categories: researcher networking systems, social media platforms, and identifiers. Falling into the last category are four widely used tools for managing author or researcher identity: ORCID iD, Web of Science ResearcherID (Clarivate), Scopus Author ID (Elsevier), and Google Scholar Citations. The latter three are proprietary systems linked to their respective databases, while ORCID offers free accounts as an open, international, interdisciplinary, and nonprofit organization. For a comparison of several author identifiers from a librarian perspective, see the two recent articles by Anna Craft (2020) and Margaret Mering (2017).

ORCID positions itself as an information hub with the researcher at the center. They do this by providing three interrelated services: the ORCID iD (free of charge to researchers); the ORCID record connected to the ORCID iD; a set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) for interoperability between an ORCID record and member organizations.

A researcher with an ORCID iD benefits from the unambiguous and correct attribution of their work and affiliations; improved recognition; time saved when filling out forms. More information about the benefits, Popular Help Topics, and Video Tutorials can be found on the For Researchers page.  In particular, the tutorial “Set Up Your ORCID iD” reviews different actions in managing your record in 10 short videos: registering your ORCID iD, adding employment and education information, importing and grouping your works, and adding your peer review activities. The registration process itself is also clearly explained in the online guide Register your ORCID iD located on the support pages. 

Figure 1, Screenshots of registration process (see online guide)

Registering for an ORCID iD takes only a few minutes and is accomplished in three easy steps (see figure 1): Personal data; Security and notifications; Visibility and terms. Three levels of privacy are available (open to public; open to trusted organizations; private) that can be applied separately to each section of the ORCID record.

Once an ORCID iD is registered, the researcher can populate the associated profile with their contact information and works (publications, data sets, theses, patents, dance performances). Beyond these more traditional outputs (books, journal articles, theses), other information can be added to the ORCID iD record, such as peer review service, grants, affiliations, invited positions and distinctions (honorary degree, visiting lecturer). The availability of this information will depend on whether the associated organization or institute is an ORCID member.

In fact, ORCID relies on membership funding from the research community to offset costs in maintaining its registry of profiles. Membership is open to any organization interested in integrating ORCID identifiers, and the member list currently shows 1,167 Member ORCID organizations. The Membership section of the ORCID site discusses the advantages of using embedded ORCID iDs in terms of improved workflow, researcher career recognition, building a community of practice and flow of research information. 

ORCID iD integration has strong support, especially from publishers. At the time of this posting, 112 journals and publishers are listed as signatories to the ORCID Open Letter (dating from Nov. 2015) stating their intention to require ORCID iDs for authors.

This requirement led Choras & Jaroszewska-Choras (2020) to examine the ethics involved in terms of privacy and equitable access for those without ORCID iDs. They also pose questions as to whether information stored in ORCID can be used for profiling and activity analysis. In addition to these issues, Teixeira da Silva (2020) discusses how trust in ORCID iDs can be eroded by the presence of numerous empty or “ghost” ORCID accounts and possible abuse (creation of fake accounts).

Being aware of ORCID’s advantages and disadvantages can help librarians advise researchers, faculty and graduate students looking to create profiles. Overall, ORCID is a strong choice for building an online professional and scholarly presence. There’s no fee to register and the author has complete control over the information. ORCID iDs are integrated with many stakeholders in scholarly communication and as such can be linked with other identifiers and databases (e.g., ResearcherID, Scopus Author ID, Crossref, DataCite). 

Craft, Anna R. (2020) Electronic Resources Forum – Managing Researcher Identity: Tools for Researchers and Librarians, Serials Review, 46:1, 44-49, DOI: 10.1080/00987913.2020.1720897Choraś, Michał & Jaroszewska-Choraś, Dagmara (2020) The scrutinizing look on the impending proliferation of mandatory ORCID use from the perspective of data protection, privacy and freedom of science, Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 45:4, 492-507, DOI: 10.1080/03080188.2020.1780773Mering, Margaret (Contributor) (2017) Correctly Linking Researchers to Their Journal Articles: An Overview of Unique Author Identifiers, Serials Review, 43:3-4, 265-267, DOI: 10.1080/00987913.2017.1386056Teixeira da Silva, Jaime A. (2020) ORCID: Issues and concerns about its use for academic purposes and research integrity, Annals of Library and Information Studies, 67:4 246-250

Sabine Lanteri, Science Liaison Librarian, University of Delaware

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