Overview
The Research resources section of your ORCID record is for information about resources that you use for your research, such as a special collection, a national laboratory facility, or specialist equipment. Research resource providers using ORCID will typically request your iD during the application process, as well as asking for permission to update your ORCID record. Like peer reviews, research resources can only be added to your ORCID record by a trusted organization, with your explicit permission -- you cannot manually add them to your record yourself.
Introduction to research resources
Research resources -- specialist resources used for research purposes -- can include anything from research facilities housing specialized equipment (laboratories, observatories, etc.) to digital repositories; and from museums and galleries to field stations that house physical collections. Persistent identifiers, such as the organization ID for the resource provider and the grant or project ID of the resource, can be used to track your resource use on your ORCID record.
Identifying which resources were used to create your research findings improves research rigor and reporting, and increases transparency. This is why ORCID has worked with members of the community to develop ways to recognize resource use and enable you to share that information with publishers, funders, and research organizations.
Research resources can only be added to your ORCID record by a trusted organization. After verifying your ORCID iD by signing in to ORCID, you can grant the resource provider permission to update your ORCID record with information about your use of their resource. This typically occurs when you submit a request to use a resource or as a part of granting access credentials to a resource. The resource provider (trusted organization) is always listed as the source of the information.
Types of research resources
There are many types of research resources, from single-use reagents to international collaboratives with dedicated facilities. Some resource type examples are listed in the following table, and you can view an example of this workflow in collecting ORCID IDs at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory
| Resource Type | Definition | Examples |
| Infrastructure | A facility, building, or other physical space used to perform research. | Neutron spallation source, animal facility, data enclave, archaeological site, telescope array. ships, planes, farms, laboratories |
| Collection | An object or group of objects used for research purposes; can be tangible or digital. | Ocean mission, field campaign, collaborative data sets or resources; rare book collection; museum collection; biological specimen collection |
| Equipment | Hardware used for research purposes | Microscope, computers, glassware, samples, materials |
| Service | Services used for research purposes | Proteomics analysis, computing services, data analysis, logistical support, legal services, copyediting, expert or staff advisement |
Fields in a research resource
The main research resource item in your record describes the proposal to access the resource.
The fields in a research resources proposal item:
- Title (required): The title of the proposal or registration to access the resource
- Translated title: Where applicable, if the title of the proposal appears in a second (generally non-English) language, the language of the translated title is recorded as an attribute
- The proposal host (required): Information about the organization that receives and processes resource proposals or requests (this may be the research resource provider or another organization). Each organization is connected to a unique organization identifier
- External identifier (required): An identifier for the proposal, selected from ORCID’s supported identifier types
- Start date: The date that access to the resource started
- End date: The date the access ended or will end
- Proposal URL: A link to the proposal
Fields in a resource item
Multiple resources can be accessed and used under a single research resources proposal. Each resource will have its own entry under the research resources proposal item.
The fields in a resource item:
- Resource name (required): The name of the resource, e.g. Giant Laser 1
- Resource type (required) The type of resource, e.g. infrastructures. See Types of research resources for more information
- Resource host (required): The organization(s) that administer or operate the resource, typically a national laboratory, government agency, or research university. The resource host may or may not be the same as the proposal host. Each organization is connected to a unique organization identifier
- External ID (required): A unique identifier for the resource
- Resource URL: A link to the web page for the resource or for more information about the resource