Overview of the problems of name ambiguity for researchers, and the potential solution of registering for an ORCID ID: http://orcid.org/ Some slides reproduced with the permission of Michael Ladisch: http://www.slideshare.net/eservice/orcid-m-ladischyork20140704

1. Your identity as a researcher - ORCID
Tanya Williamson
Assistant Librarian:
Postgraduate, Researcher & Staff Support

2. Who are you?
• Your own perspective, knowledge
and experience is what makes your
work unique
• Your name (not necessarily your
affiliation) will tie your work
together throughout your career

3. Common and transliterated
names
“Estimates by China's Ministry of
Public Security suggest that more than
1.1 billion people — around 85% of
China's population — share just 129
surnames. Problems with
abbreviations, ordering of given names
and surnames and inconsistent journal
practices heighten the confusion.”
http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080213/full/451766a.html
Half of the population on
the Korean peninsula share
the three most common
surnames (Kim, Lee, Park)
P. Ghosh: International Business Times online, 15th Nov.
2013

4. Name variations
An illustrative example: Jens Åge Smærup Sørensen
J. Å. S. Sørensen
J. Aa. S. Sørensen
J. Å. S. Sorensen
J. Aa. S. Sorensen
J. Å. S. Soerensen
J. Aa. S. Soerensen
Jens Å. S. Sørensen
Jens Aa. S. Sørensen
Jens Å. S. Sorensen
Jens Aa. S. Sorensen
Jens Å. S. Soerensen
Jens Aa. S. Soerensen
J. Åge S. Sørensen
J. Aage S. Sørensen
J. Åge S. Sorensen
J. Aage S. Sorensen
J. Åge S. Soerensen
J. Aage S. Soerensen
Jens Åge S. Sørensen
Jens Aage S. Sørensen
Jens Åge S. Sorensen
Jens Aage S. Sorensen
Jens Åge S. Soerensen
Jens Aage S. Soerensen
J. Åge Smærup Sørensen
J. Aage Smaerup Sørensen
J. Åge Smarup Sorensen
J. Aage Smarup Sorensen
J. Åge Smaerup Soerensen
J. Aage Smaerup Soerensen
Jens Åge Smærup Sørensen
Jens Aage Smaerup Sørensen
Jens Åge Smarup Sorensen
Jens Aage Smarup Sorensen
Jens Åge Smærup Soerensen
Jens Aage Smaerup Soerensen

5. Name changes
I’ve published
under different
names
I’ve changed my
name
My name changed
when I moved
country

6. Research administration,
processes and outputs
Funding
• Grants
• Contracts
• Seed Funding
• Coop Agreements
Datasets
• Physical Objects
• Electronic Files
• Protein Structures
Genetic Sequences
Publications
• Journal Articles
• Books
• Patents
• Legal Briefs
• Algorithms
• Software Code
Impacts
• Policy
• Legal
• Health
• Environment
• Education
• Product Development
• Spin Off
• Workforce

7. The challenge
As a researcher, you want to
• eliminate name ambiguity, distinguishing you from
other researchers and ensuring proper attribution.
• ensure your work is discoverable and connected to
you throughout your career;
• minimize the time you spend entering repetitive
data online

8. A solution?
• Open Researcher & Contributor ID
• Unique, persistent identifier for researchers &
scholars
• Free to researchers
• Can be used throughout one’s career, across
professional activities, disciplines, nations &
languages
• Maintains a registry

9. Adoption by researchers
orcid.org

10. Register, link, use
Register:
Names
including
in other
characters
Link works:
automatically using the
import features, and
manually if necessary
Add info:
Other IDs,
Education
Employment…
Use ID: emails,
profiles,
publications,
manuscript
submissions,
job applications,
grant applications,
datasets…

11. Possible future
applications
• IDs could be integrated into University systems, such as
Research Information System, HR, Repository, REF
• More publishers could start to request an ORCID upon
submission
“The motto is:
‘Input once – re-use often.’”
Wolfram Horstmann, Associate Director, Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford

12. For benefits to be realized…
Researchers must claim
and use ORCID iDs
Research information
processes and systems
must embed ORCID iDs
and link back with the
ORCID Registry

13. Useful links and credits
• ORCID website http://orcid.org/
• User help: http://support.orcid.org/knowledgebase/topics/32827-website-user
• Ghosh, P. (2013) Kim, Park And Lee: Why Do Koreans Have So Few Surnames? International Business
Times. 15th November 2013. (Accessed on 25th September 2014 from http://www.ibtimes.com/kim-park-lee-
why-do-koreans-have-so-few-surnames-1472324)
• Qiu, J. (2008) Scientific publishing: Identity crisis. Nature, 451, 766-767 DOI:10.1038/451766a (Accessed
25th September 2014 from http://www.nature.com/news/2008/080213/full/451766a.html )
• Whitlock Burton, K. (ed). (2008) Random Samples: One Wei or Another. Science, 319 no. 5865, 881 DOI:
10.1126/science.319.5865.881d (Accessed 25th September 2014 from
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/319/5865/881.4.full.pdf?sid=a591f3ed-c7ef-49fb-9335-
13f6a9099ccd)
Many thanks to Michael Ladisch (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0124-5582) for
kindly permitting me to reuse content from his slides and to the ORCID Community
for providing the Overview of ORCID slides for use in raising awareness.

14. Questions and discussion

15. Next session…
Research Bites is having a break
throughout October.
See you in November!
http://researchbites.wordpress.com/
t.williamson1@lancaster.ac.uk
(no ORCID ID as yet…)