ORCID
ORCID™ gives researchers and authors a single unique ID which works across the research landscape.
If you have a PURE profile...
Follow the guidance in the PURE User Guide to:
Already have an iD?
If you don't have a PURE profile...
Eight reasons to have an ORCID iD:
- Distinguish yourself - Ensure that all your research outputs and activities are correctly attributed to you
- Quickly becoming an international standard - in use by publishers, research funders, and universities across the world.
- It's mandated - for new postgraduate research students and in some grant applications (such as Wellcome Trust and NIHR), and is strongly enouraged for staff submitting to the REF
- It's open to all, non-profit and community-driven - a non-proprietary service maintained for the benefit of researchers in all disciplines and at all career stages
- Your ORCID iD belongs to you and stays with you throughout your career
- Recognised by PURE - helping university systems to synchronise information
- Endorsed in the Policy on the Publication of Research
- ...and it's quick and easy - as little as 30 seconds to register
Want to know more?
Why do I need an ORCID iD?
It is important to establish a unique professional identity throughout your academic and research career.
Your name may be central to your profile, but it's not enough to reliably distinguish you and ensure that you get the credit for your work. This is especially the case when information about you and your research is shared electronically between systems.
Using an ORCID iD ensures that your publications and other research activities are correctly linked to you.
It promotes discoverability of your research activities and makes sure you get the credit for the work you do.
It makes it easier share information about your research outputs and activities between systems and services, increasing accuracy and reducing the need to enter the same information multiple times.
The more individuals, institutions, and services that adopt ORCID, the more effective it will become.
Is ORCID just another online profile site?
The unique benefit of ORCID is that it provides a universal, non-proprietary identification number. This can be used across systems to tie together the various places in which your online profile exists - universities, publishers, research funders, social media, or any other organisations.
Some people find it useful to add information about themselves and their research activities, but you can get the benefits of having an ORCID iD while only entering minimal information to your profile.
Who are ORCID?
The ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor IDentifier) registry is managed by ORCID (Inc.), a not-for-profit organisation formed in 2010.
ORCID is dedicated to solving the name ambiguity problem by giving researchers and authors a single unique ID which works across the research landscape.
The work of ORCID is guided by an agreed set of principles.
ORCID operates internationally with its headquarters in Bethesda, USA.
More information on ORCID and its organisational structure is provided within their About pages.
How private and secure is my information on ORCID?
Information kept by ORCID is protected by their privacy policy, which is designed to comply with US 'Safe Harbor' principles. The ORCID web services are also TRUSTe certified.
ORCID offer a range of visibility settings (everyone, trusted parties, only me) for you to choose from that can be applied to different parts of your record. Information set as 'only me' can only be seen by you and is not shared with any third parties.
Information about ORCID's commitment to information security is contained in their privacy policy.
Further information about how ORCID ensure the security of your data is available on their support pages.
How does ORCID work with other identifiers for researchers?
ORCID is independent from any publisher, unlike - for example - the Scopus Author Identifier or the Clarivate (Web of Science) ResearcherID.
However, an increasing number of publishers are working with ORCID to synchronise different identifier systems.
In Scopus:
- The Author search includes an option to search by ORCID iD.
- The Author profile displays the ORCID iD where present.
- Authors can associate their ORCID iD with their Scopus Author Identifer using the Scopus Author Feedback wizard. This enables you to import your Identifier into your ORCID profile along with your list of publications from Scopus, and to add your ORCID iD into Scopus (see Scopus Support Center for more information).
In Web of Science:
- Search by ORCID iD using the Author Identifiers field.
- Author Information includes the ORCID iD where present.
- Authors can associate their ORCID iD with their Researcher ID, to exchange profile data in either direction.
The ISO's International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) works in a similar way to ORCID, but they are designed to serve different communities and different needs.
ISNI operates across various media and is primarily designed to ensure the smooth allocation of royalties.
ORCID, on the other hand, is designed specifically for researchers, and uses richer metadata specific to scholarly communication.
ORCID and ISNI have agreed a system of interoperability between the two identifiers and are working on full integration.
Contact us
For more information and help with ORCID, contact Open Research: