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ORCID IDs: Home

Information about the ORCID persistent digital identifier.

What is an ORCID ID?

ORCID, which stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID, is a free, unique, persistent identifier for individuals to use as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. It is a 16 digit number that will be unique to you, that you own and control, and that distinguishes you from every other researcher. Having an ORCID ensures that you get credit for your work throughout your career. 

You can connect your iD with your professional information — affiliations, grants, publications, peer review, and more. You can use your iD to share your information with other systems or even to log in to some scholarly sites.  Many publishers and grant funders are encouraging or requiring the use of an ORCID for corresponding authors and principle investigators.

How to Get an ORCID

ORCID in three steps

Already have an ORCID?

If you already have an ORCID ID but haven't used it or updated your record, it's no problem to go back.  Some common issues and their solutions can easily be fixed!

Why Get an ORCID?

ORCID for Researchers Graphic

People use “ORCID” or “ORCID iD” interchangeably, but what they’re talking about is a 16-digit number and the associated record (sometimes called a profile) that stores automatic links to all your research, and links all your research with you. By allowing trusted organizations to add your research information to your ORCID record, you can spend more time conducting your research and less time managing it.

Your ORCID moves stays with you throughout your career:

  • ORCID helps reduce the negative consequences of name changes so you will no longer be limited to the name you used when you began your career.
  • Distinguish yourself and claim credit for your work while controlling access to your data, no matter how many people have your same (or similar) name.

ORCIDs save time when used with complementary systems:

  • Easily share your data between your record and an increasing number of funding, publications, data repositories, and other research workflows.
  • Experience greater ease as an increasing number of manuscript submission or grant application forms can be auto-populated when you log into their systems with your ORCID, like NIH Biosketch, ScienCV, CiênciaVitae, Portuguese FCT, and OJS.

 

Video Tour of an ORCID Record

Optimizing your ORCID record

The more well-populated ORCID records there are, the more value that both researchers and the entire community can gain from participating in ORCID.  Here are some ways that you can populate your record easily!

1.Connect your record - In your record, you have access to nearly 1,200 integrations across research and academic institutions, publishers, funders, and other service providers and more are being added all the time!  There are many ways you can connect to the record of scholarship already in other databases, publishers, or your own files.

2. Ensure your work is discoverable by adjusting the Availability Settings - the visibility of each piece of data in your ORCID record is controlled by you. Learn how to adjust visibility to make your work discoverable—or keep some things private or shared only with your trusted organizations. It’s up to you!

3. Automatic updates to your record as you publish - Ensure that data such as peer reviews and other works automatically get pushed to your record when they become available by linking your record with Datacite, Crossref or Publons.

 

For assistance with ORCID, you can contact the Research Engagement Librarian