ORCID Identifiers: Planned and Potential Uses by Associations, Publishers, and Librarians

Abstract

ORCID is an international, interdisciplinary, non-profit organization with a twofold goal: provide an open registry of unique identifiers for researchers and work with the scholarly community to ensure that this persistent identifier is embedded in research workflows and becomes a core part of the metadata associated with works and activities. ORCID allows researchers to link their ORCID identifier (a unique 16-digit number) to publications and activities, helping them claim their works and solve the name ambiguity problem in research and scholarly communications. In concert with persistent identifiers for research works (such as DOIs), ORCID makes research more discoverable, reduces time spent entering data by extending interoperability across siloed research information systems, and supports more efficient and accurate analysis and reporting.

Since its launch in October 2012, the ORCID registry has grown steadily and organizations within the publishing, funding, and academic research communities have integrated the ORCID identifier into their workflows. This presentation will provide an overview of ORCID and examples of how organizations are integrating ORCID iDs into their systems. The Modern Language Association is exploring how best to integrate ORCID iDs into the publication process and into its member services. Librarians are well-positioned to partner with new and established scholars in accurately capturing their record of scholarship, and to work with internal partners such as research offices and graduate schools. As a member of the University of North Carolina system, East Carolina University researchers are interested in the potential for ORCID profiles to supplement information in the statewide profile system REACH NC. Texas A&M University is one of nine institutions recently selected to participate in an ORCID Adoption and Integration Program (funded by the Sloan Foundation) for their proposal to integrate ORCID iDs into their open-source Vireo ETD management system, the university's institutional repository, and their VIVO profile system. The attached manuscript is is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in The Serials Librarian on 19/05/2015, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/0361526X.2015.1017713.