The Open Researcher and Contributor ID is a unique alphanumeric author identifier that enables the simplified assignment of a scientific publication to a person, regardless of spelling variants, duplications or changes of name or place of work. The non-profit organisation Open Researcher Contributor Identification Initiative wants to develop the sixteen-digit ORCID identification number into a future-proof de facto standard for the identification of authors of scientific publications and thus prevent the incorrect assignment of scientific achievements to persons, institutions or research funding organisations in the future.
At https://orcid.org/register the ORCID can be applied for free of charge and an author profile with all previous publication data can be set up. Interfaces, e.g. to Scopus or Web of Science, can also be used for this purpose and existing IDs, such as the GND number, the Scopus Author ID or the Thomas Reuters ResearcherID, can be stored in the ORCID profile. If the data sources DataCite and CrossRef are also authorised in the ORCID profile, the metadata of future publications can be automatically transferred to the ORCID profile via Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) during the publication process.
It is also possible to import information from discipline-specific databases, e.g. MLA International Bibliography, directly into the ORCID profile. With the ÜberResearch Search & Link tool provided by ORCID, the profile can be enriched with information on awards and scholarships. The linking of existing profiles, for example in Kudos, Loop, Mendeley or Publons, also enables data transfer between the systems so that it will no longer be necessary to enter the data multiple times in future.
By specifying the ORCID on your own homepage, in your e-mail signature or under your personal data on a research proposal, the search for and allocation of publications can be simplified and the visibility of research results can be further increased.
The University of Passau has been a member of the ORCID DE consortium since 1 March 2021.
