What is my ORCID iD?
ORCID, which stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID, is a name-independent person-identifier founded specifically to help solve the problem of name ambiguity in research and to enable transparent and trustworthy connections between researchers, their contributions, and their affiliations.
You can use your iD, maintain and update your record, share your information, and search the ORCID Registry for free. The only requirement for registration is that you agree to ORCID's privacy policy and Terms of Use and consent to have your data processed in the United States. You do not need to have an institutional affiliation, and there is no set of requirements to qualify as a researcher.
Who can have an ORCID?
ORCID is open to everyone who may find ORCID useful. For simplicity, we often use the word “researcher” when referring to an ORCID record holder, but the “C” in ORCID stands for “contributor.” Our users hail from a far broader context than just one word can encompass. In fact, ORCID enables everyone who might find benefit from using the ORCID Registry to be able to obtain and use an ORCID iD.
Any rigid definition of who would “qualify” for an iD would likely unintentionally exclude people for whom an ORCID iD would be useful due to the wide diversity of circumstances researchers find themselves in around the world. Read more about who else might use an ORCID record, and how ORCID balances researcher control and data quality here.
How can having an ORCID record benefit you?
Your ORCID is yours throughout your career, no matter where you work, who funds you, whether your name or field of research changes, or if your name appears in different forms in different places, e.g. Sofia Maria Hernandez Garcia, Sofia M. Hernandez, S. Maria Hernandez, Sofia M. Garcia. Learn more about persistent identifiers (PIDs). Your ORCID can benefit you in a variety of ways. It can:
- distinguish you and ensure your research outputs and activities are correctly attributed to you
- reliably and easily connect you with your affiliations and other professional contributions
- reduce errors when filling out forms (enter data once, re-use it often!)
- improve recognition and discoverability for you and your research outputs
- reduce your burden, as it’s interoperable between many institutions, funders, and publishers
- endure changes in your name, employer, location, and even area of study
By using your iD in research workflows like manuscript submission or grant application systems, you can connect yourself with your professional activities and affiliations. After signing in to your record, you can grant permission for the systems and platforms you use to update your ORCID record with trusted information about you. This enables easy and error-free sharing and re-use of this information.
How should I use my ORCID iD?
With nearly six thousand systems now using ORCID iDs, you will likely be asked to provide yours, for example, while submitting a manuscript, applying for a grant, or setting up your profile page at your research institution. Below are some useful pointers to optimize your iD and make it work for you.
- Visibility settings. By default, all information on your ORCID record is publicly available except your email address(es), which are set as private. However, you can change the visibility settings for all information on your ORCID record whenever you want (learn more at Visibility preferences). We encourage you to do this to make your work discoverable by potential collaborators and to increase the visibility of your work.
- Permissions, trusted organizations, and record updates. We like to say: "Enter once, reuse often." Sharing the information in your ORCID record saves you time and reduces the risk of errors. But only share your ORCID iD with systems that provide a sign-in screen. Signing in (or “authenticating”) enables you to choose what happens to your information, and it also ensures that the connections you make with your ORCID iD are trusted (learn more about Trusted organizations)
- Add all your email addresses to your ORCID record. Adding past and present addresses makes it easier to log in and less likely that you’ll lose access to your ORCID record if, for example, you move organizations. It also enables you to make connections between your ORCID record and activities and affiliations linked to former emails (learn more in Account email addresses)
- Use your iD! Include your ORCID iD on your web page and email signature, and use it when prompted as you submit a manuscript, apply for a grant, and in any other research workflow to ensure you get credit for your work