Everything you need to know about ORCID
| 29. August 2018
In January 2018, ORCID already had 4.3 million members. Many academic publishing houses, such as PLOS, expect authors to have an existing ORCID identifier. (© ORCID)
Many academics around the world already use it – the ORCID iD. It is a code to clearly identify academic authors. Since June 2018, the University of Vienna has been a member institution of ORCID.
What is ORCID?
ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is an international not-for-profit organisation that is supported by numerous stakeholders in the publishing and communication industry, universities, academies of science, research institutions, publishing houses, expert associations and funding bodies.
ORCID assigns so-called ORCID iDs. These are internationally accepted identifiers for researchers aimed at preventing mix-ups, e.g. when two researchers share the same name. The iD also links the academics directly to their research results. The iD is a unique and permanent identification number that researchers can use throughout their career to refer to their publications, projects, research data, etc.
Advantages for academics
Due to the permanent nature of the iD, it is possible to clearly identify academics regardless of name variations, name changes and different spellings. Academics can use the ORCID iD as a career-long identifier, regardless of any information that can change over their career, such as their current employer or research areas.
Now, everything that academics need for the communication with publishers is an ORCID iD. Trustworthy publishing houses (trusted parties) can automatically access all the information they need.
The ORCID identifier makes it possible to clearly assign research contributions to an academic and look them up in the ORCID record. This also applies if international databases do not list the academic’s research output.
ORCID and research funding
The administrative effort involved in the preparation of applications and reports for funding bodies and third-party sponsors is reduced significantly. Academics can give other people access to their record and their research contributions documented in it. For example, since 2016, academics who would like to submit a project proposal to the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) require an ORCID iD.
ORCID and data security
ORCID is certified by TrustArc and places great importance on data privacy. Registered academics have full control over the data shown on their record and the persons who can access it.
Except for their name and the ORCID iD, academics can manage the security settings for all the information on their record themselves.
ORCID and the University of Vienna
The University of Vienna has been a member of ORCID since June 2018. This enables the integration between various services of the University of Vienna and ORCID.
u:cris will be the first platform using the ORCID iD. This allows all academics at the University of Vienna to enhance their ORCID record by merging it with the information on u:cris without any additional effort. Following the u:cris implementation in the coming winter semester, ORCID will be made available step by step in other university systems, such as u:scholar and Phaidra.
For further information and questions about ORCID, please contact the team at the Department for Bibliometrics and Publication Strategies. E-mail: bibliometrie(at)univie.ac.at, Tel.: +43-1-4277 27619
