Privacy and your ORCID record
We are committed to providing you with meaningful choices about your privacy and the ability to control how your information is used. A core ORCID principle is that you control the settings for visibility & sharing of your own ORCID Record data. You have the right to control how your information is published on and shared via the ORCID Registry.
This page sets out the privacy options available to you as a Record Holder. For detailed information on how ORCID uses personal information and your data protection rights (whether you have an ORCID Record or not), see our Privacy Policy. If you have further questions about your Record that aren’t answered here, please refer to the other articles in our Help Center.
Changing your Privacy Settings
You can review, delete, and edit information directly from your ORCID Record, as well as change preferences and sharing settings. You will need to be logged in to make changes.
You can update your default visibility settings for any new information added to your ORCID record in the Visibility tab of your ORCID account settings.
You can change your settings for visibility & sharing at any time. However, the new settings will only apply after you have made the change. For example, if you change a setting for visibility & sharing from Everyone to Only Me, or Trusted, there is no way to stop people who have previously viewed or downloaded your Everyone data from using it. ORCID has no control over uses of data already made available via the Registry or disclosures made in places other than the Registry.
Your Privacy Choices and how they affect your Record data
When you first register for an ORCID Record, you choose the visibility level (which applies to any data items you add to your Record) and can change this default and item-level visibility settings at any time.
The default visibility setting of your name when you register is Everyone. The default visibility setting of your email address(es) is Only me.
As a Record Holder, you can choose the visibility for each data item in your ORCID Record, other than the ORCID iD, which is always visible by everyone. For all other information on your ORCID Record, you can choose between:
- visible to everyone, or
- visible to those you trust, or
- visible only to you
EVERYONE (visible to everyone)
Data items which you have set with the visibility of Everyone (Everyone Data) will be available to the public for viewing and use through the Registry, the ORCID API, and via the ORCID public data file. Everyone Data is released under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication. This designation is a dedication to the public domain that allows anyone to copy, modify, distribute, store, or otherwise use Everyone Data for any purpose without asking for further permission.
TRUSTED (visible to those you trust)
Data items which you have set with the visibility of Trusted (Trusted Data) may be viewed through the Registry by:
- You, and
- Your designated Trusted Individual(s) (if any), and
- Your Trusted Organization(s) (if any).
It may also be used via the ORCID API by Trusted Organizations.
Trusted Individuals
You may choose to delegate management of your ORCID Record to one or more Trusted Individuals (such as your research administrator or administrative assistant). A Trusted Individual can act on your behalf with respect to your ORCID Record, including editing and depositing data, naming Trusted Organizations, and designating settings for visibility & sharing.
A Trusted Individual cannot name other Trusted Individuals, change passwords or Account access settings, or remove email addresses. A Trusted Individual will have access to all information in your ORCID Record, including Trusted and Only Me data. Therefore, you should only grant Trusted Individual status to a person you trust. ORCID cannot control how a Trusted Individual will interact with your ORCID Record.
Trusted Individual status remains in place until you revoke it, which you may do at any time from the Trusted Parties page. Trusted Individuals must agree to ORCID’s Terms and Conditions of Use.
Trusted Organizations
You can elect to share specific data items with Trusted Organizations. Trusted Organizations will have these permissions for the time period indicated on the ORCID authorization page or, if no time period is specified,until you revoke these permissions. You can revoke permissions for any Trusted Organization from the Trusted Parties page of your Record at any time.
A Trusted Organization which is the source of specific data in your Record will continue to be able to delete that data from your Record, even if you have revoked permission. This is to ensure continued accuracy of data in the Registry. If you do not wish the Trusted Organization to be able to delete such data after revoking permission, then you must delete the data from your record yourself.
Under ORCID's Membership Agreement, Trusted Organizations agree not to disclose to any other person or entity Trusted Data unless (i) the data is publicly available from another source, or (ii) the organization provides notice to you about how and to whom such data will be disclosed. However, ORCID has no control over how the organization uses the Trusted Data, including sharing it with others. Therefore, you should only grant Trusted Organization status to those that you trust.
ONLY ME (visible only to you)
Data items which you have set with the visibility of Only Me (Only Me Data) may be viewed through the Registry by:
- You,
- Your designated Trusted Individual(s) (if any), and
- any Trusted Organization(s) that deposited the data in your Record (if you gave it permission to do so in the past)
Only Me Data is not shared with the public, other ORCID Members, or Trusted Organizations, except in the following situation: if you sign into a Trusted Organization’s system using your ORCID Account, and an email address is required for the sign in to work or for the Trusted Organization to communicate with you directly, then we will ask you to release your email address to the Trusted Organization even though it is marked as "Only me".
It will be made clear to you in the ORCID user interface when this is required, and you will be given the opportunity not to proceed. If you do proceed, but later want your email address removed from the Trusted Organization’s system, then you will need to contact the Trusted Organization, or use an interface provided by them.
Change the visibility of multiple items on your ORCID record
You can also change the visibility settings for multiple items on your ORCID record. Click on the checkbox at the top left hand corner of your Works section to select all items, or click on each individual checkbox (next to the title of your works) to manually select multiple items. When you have the desired items selected, you can change the visibility settings for multiple works by adjusting the slider at the top of the Works section.
You can view what your public record looks like by clicking the Preview public version link beneath your ORCID iD at the top right of your record.
Can ORCID see the information in your Record?
Yes. People who work for, or on behalf of, ORCID and whose roles involve managing the Registry are able to view Only Me and Trusted Data. Those who gain access under this provision have signed confidentiality agreements with us. See our Privacy Policy [link] for further details about how ORCID uses personal data.
What to do if you think information in your Record is incorrect
If you think that any information in your Record is wrong and you can’t find a way to correct it yourself, let us know. We strive to give you ways to update it quickly or delete it, subject to legitimate business or legal purposes.
You can edit most of your Record information yourself, but you cannot directly edit data provided by another source that you have given permission as a Trusted Organization. However, you may change the item's visibility, delete the incorrect data, or make your own corrected version of data.
If you discover that you accidentally have more than one ORCID iD/Record, you can combine the Records.
Downloading your Record data
You can download all the data in your ORCID Record. Instructions on how to do this are here.
Deactivating your account
You may choose to disable your ORCID Record in the Registry by deactivating the Account from the Account Settings page of your Record. In the event that your ORCID Record is disabled, we will delete all of your Record data other than your ORCID iD and a cryptographically hashed form of your email address.
We retain your ORCID iD, marked as deactivated and with no personal data attached, to ensure your former identifier is not reassigned to someone else. We maintain a non-reversible, cryptographically hashed form of your email address to allow you to re-claim your identifier in the future if you choose to do so.