ORCID
What is an ORCID?
ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor Identifier) is an international, interdisciplinary, open, non-proprietary, and not-for-profit institution. ORCID enables transparent and trustworthy connections between researchers, their contributions, and affiliations by providing an identifier for individuals to use with their name as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities
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- A persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from other researchers and ensures your research outputs and activities are correctly attributed to you.
- Your ORCID iD is yours throughout your career, no matter where you work, who funds you, whether your name or field of research changes, or if your names appears in different forms in different places.
- You control your ORCID iD. You control when and where you use your iD. You manage connections to your iD, including deciding who gets to add what information, and whether and by whom this data may be viewed and accessed.
Benefits of Using ORCID
- Your ORCID iD distinguishes you from all other researchers, especially those with a similar or the same name.
- ORCID saves time by reducing repetitive data entry. You can link your ORCID account with trusted parties. Once linked, these systems can push information back and forth – saving you time from re-entering citation information.
- ORCID is more universal than other researcher profile systems (such as Google Scholar, Scopus Author Identifier, or ResearcherID from Clarivate).
- More and more publishers are providing options to link authors’ and reviewers’ ORCID iDs in their manuscript submission systems. Some publishers are starting to mandate use of ORCID iDs for authors. (ORCID maintains a list of publishers that require an ORCID iD.)
- Funders are starting to adopt ORCID in their funding application process. This includes the National Institutes of Health.
ORCID and Publication Linking
You can use your ORCID record to quickly populate your SciENcv Biosketch.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) requires applications include Biosketches for key personnel created using the SciENcv online platform. The NIH suggests that funding application Biosketches be created using SciENcv.
Not only can you link your publications with your ORCiD, but you can also link your conference presentations, datasets, and more.
Steps to Create an ORCID iD
Go to ORCID @ UA, create a new ORCID iD and connect it to The University of Arizona. If you already have a ORCID iD, you can connect your iD to UA. Once you have connected your ORCID iD to UA, you can sign into ORCID using either your personal account/password or through your UA NetID and password.
ORCID Profile Setup
Once you register for an ORCiD, you can complete your profile to help establish your visibility as a researcher. On your profile, you will enter your contact information, information about your employment and education and qualifications, your professional accomplishments and organizations, and your publications. You can also add keywords to your profile for easier discoverability.
What Are Persistent Identifiers (PIDs)?
A Persistent Identifier (PID)—also called a Digital Persistent Identifier (DPI)—is a unique, permanent identifier assigned to an object, person, or entity. It doesn’t change over time, even if the location of the object it represents does. The PID is not the object itself, but rather a stable, unambiguous link to it.
For example, a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) assigned to a journal article stays the same, even if the article moves to a different URL or the publisher changes. The PID always directs users to the most current location of the object.
Benefits of PIDs
Using PIDs improves the efficiency, accuracy, and transparency of research communication:
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Reduces duplication by eliminating the need to manually re-enter data
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Ensures clarity by avoiding name confusion or object misidentification
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Enhances discoverability of research outputs and relationships
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Supports automation in research administration and reporting
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Enables interoperability between funders, publishers, institutions, and repositories
For example, ORCID iDs can sync with platforms like NCBI, SciENcv, and institutional research systems—saving time for researchers and administrators alike.
Open Science, Research Security, and Persistent Identifiers (PIDs)
In recent years, there has been a significant push to make research outputs more openly accessible. Federal funding agencies are playing a leading role in advancing open science practices while also ensuring the protection of research security and transparency around foreign research funding.
This effort is grounded in a set of shared goals to:
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Foster research discoveries and innovation that benefit the U.S. and the global community
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Strengthen protections for federally funded R&D from foreign government interference
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Preserve the core values of the American scientific enterprise—openness, transparency, honesty, equity, fair competition, objectivity, and democratic principles—while reinforcing security and accountability
A key component in achieving these goals is the use of Persistent Identifiers (PIDs) throughout the research and publication process. Several federal directives explicitly call for their adoption, including:
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National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 (NSPM-33) – January 2021
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NSPM-33 Implementation Guidance – January 2022
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Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) Public Access Memo – August 2022
As agencies respond to the OSTP memo with policy updates, we can expect to see more formal requirements around the use of PIDs to improve research integrity and reduce administrative burden.
Why PIDs Matter: ORCID as the Current Standard
The NSPM-33 Implementation Guidance outlines essential characteristics for a PID system. Currently, ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is the only available PID that meets all federal requirements for researcher identifiers.