This document discusses the need for unique and persistent identifiers for researchers to help link them to their professional activities and contributions over time. It notes that relying solely on author names is inadequate due to common names, name changes, and variations in how names are written. It then introduces ORCID as a solution that provides identifiers that can be integrated into research workflows and systems to enable the interoperable exchange of information about researchers and their work. Finally, it provides an overview of ORCID's growing membership and international usage.

1. Supporting Evaluation with Unique and Persistent
Identifiers for Researchers
16 February 2014
AAAS Annual Meeting, Chicago
Rebecca Bryant, PhD
Director of Community, ORCID
r.bryant@orcid.org
@ORCID_ORG
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2753-3881
Contact Info: p. +1-301-922-9062 a. 10411 Motor City Drive, Suite 750, Bethesda, MD 20817 USA
orcid.org

2. What is the problem?
The research community has
lacked the ability to link
researchers and scholars with their
professional activities.
•
•
•
•
15 February 2014
Discoverability within and across databases
Acknowledgement and citation of contributions
Author, grantee, and faculty record management
Research reporting and impact assessment
orcid.org
2

3. Why so difficult?
Relying on author names is inadequate for identification
15 February 2014
orcid.org
3

4. Common 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
15 February 2014
orcid.org
4

5. Multiple Names
An illustrative example:
Jens Åge Smærup Sørensen
•
J. Å. S. Sørensen
•
J. Åge S. Sørensen
• J. Åge Smærup Sørensen
•
J. Aa. S. Sørensen
•
J. Aage S. Sørensen
• J. Aage Smaerup Sørensen
•
J. Å. S. Sorensen
•
J. Åge S. Sorensen
• J. Åge Smarup Sorensen
•
J. Aa. S. Sorensen
•
J. Aage S. Sorensen
• J. Aage Smarup Sorensen
•
J. Å. S. Soerensen
•
J. Åge S. Soerensen
• J. Åge Smaerup Soerensen
•
J. Aa. S. Soerensen
•
J. Aage S. Soerensen
• J. Aage Smaerup Soerensen
•
Jens Å. S. Sørensen
•
Jens Åge S. Sørensen
• Jens Åge Smærup Sørensen
•
Jens Aa. S. Sørensen
•
Jens Aage S. Sørensen
• Jens Aage Smaerup Sørensen
•
Jens Å. S. Sorensen
•
Jens Åge S. Sorensen
• Jens Åge Smarup Sorensen
•
Jens Aa. S. Sorensen
•
Jens Aage S. Sorensen
• Jens Aage Smarup Sorensen
•
Jens Å. S. Soerensen
•
Jens Åge S. Soerensen
• Jens Åge Smærup Soerensen
•
Jens Aa. S. Soerensen
•
Jens Aage S. Soerensen
• Jens Aage Smaerup Soerensen
And on and on it goes …

6. Name Changes
15 February 2014
orcid.org
6

7. Why so difficult?
Contributions are also complex—more than journal
articles
15 February 2014
orcid.org
7

8. Many different research outputs
Funding
Grants
Contracts
Seed Funding
Coop Agreements
Service Activities
Peer Review
Working Groups
Leadership Positions
Training and Mentoring
Affiliations
Employer
Professional Associations
Publications
Journal Articles
Books
Patents
Legal Briefs
Algorithms
Software Code
idea
People
Team
Collaborations
Trainees
15 February 2014
orcid.org
Datasets
Physical Objects
Electronic Files
Protein Structures
Genetic Sequences
Impacts
Policy
Legal
Health
Environment
Education
Product Development
Spin Off
Workforce
8

9. Multiple Disciplines
Narcolepsy
Hibernation
Stanford Univ.
1988-1991
Circadian Rhythms
Glutamate Receptors
Stanford Univ.
1997-2006
??
??
Postdoc Policy
AAAS
2001-2003
One person or many
Calcium Sparks
Neuron-Glial Signals
Potassium Channels
NIH
1997-2002
15 February 2014
Science Workforce
Women in Science
Interdisciplinary Research
NAS
2003-2007
Research Policy
Evaluation Metrics
Infrastructure
Discovery Logic
2007-2012
9

10. Understanding Impact
We all have questions:
v How can we reliably connect
v Funders
v Universities &
research
organizations
v Publishers
v Professional
societies
v Researchers
researchers to their contributions?
v Can we expand our view of what is
considered a contribution?
v How do we track research
activities across careers?
Databases? Organizations?
v How can we measure the impact of
our training program? Funding
program? Department? Project?
15 February 2014
orcid.org
10

11. Identifiers for Researchers
Effective evaluation requires:
v Unique and persistent personidentifier that can be used
throughout one’s research career,
across professional activities,
affiliations, nations and languages
v IDs that are integrated in standard
workflows, embedded in works
metadata, independent of platform,
and can be linked with other IDs
v Data exchange standards, accessible
data, and links to source docs
15 February 2014
orcid.org
11

12. ORCID
v ORCID provides a non-proprietary registry of persistent unique
identifiers for researchers
v ORCID iDs are embedded in research systems and ORCID
provides an API that enables the interoperable exchange of
information between systems
v ORCID record data marked
public by researchers is
published annually
v ORCID code is open source and we support community efforts to
develop tools and services
v ORCID links research information across systems through
persistent identifiers
15 February 2014
orcid.org
12

13. Interoperability
ORCID works collaboratively with the research
community to ensure use and adoption of research
information exchange standards
15 February 2014
orcid.org
13

14. ORCID is a hub
Other
identifiers
Publishers
Funders
Repositories
Universities
Professional
associations
14

15. 120 members and growing
Publishing*
AIP$Publishing,$AIRITI,$Aries,$Atlas,$Cactus,$Copernicus,$EBSCO,$Elsevier,$EDP$Sciences,$
eJournal$Press,$eLife,$Epistemio,$Flooved,$Hindawi,$InfraFM$Academic$Publishing,$Jnl$Bone$
and$Joint$Surgery,$Karger,$Landes$Bioscience,$National$Academy$of$Sciences,$Nature,$
Oxford$University$Press,$Peerage$of$Science,$PLOS,$Rockefeller$University$Press,$RNAi,$
ScienceOpen,$Springer,$Taylor$&$Francis,$Wiley,$Wolters$Kluwer$
Associations* American$Astronomical$Soc,$American$Chemical$Soc,$ACSESS,$AAAS,$American$Geophysical$
Union,$American$Mathematical$Soc,$American$Psychological$Assn,$American$Physical$Soc,$
American$Soc$Microbiology,$American$Soc$Civil$Engineers,$Assn$Computing$Machinery,$
Electrochemical$Society,$IEEE,$IOP,$Modern$Language$Assn,$OSA,$Royal$Soc$Chemistry,$Soc$
Neuroscience$
Funders*
Autism$Speaks,$US$Department$of$Energy,$US$Food$and$Drug$Administration,$Fundação$
para$a$Ciência$e$a$Tecnologia,$Japan$Science$and$Technology$Agency,$Qatar$National$
Research$Foundation,$US$National$Institutes$of$Health,$UK$National$Institute$of$Health$
Research,$Wellcome$Trust$
Universities* Boston$Univ,$CalTech,$Cambridge$Univ,$Chalmers$Univ$Technology,$Charles$Darwin$Univ,$
and*Research* Chinese$Academy$of$Sciences$Library,$CERN,$Cornell$Univ,$EMBL$(EBI),$FHCRC,$Glasgow$
Organizations* Univ,$Harvard$Univ,$IFPRI,$KACST,$KISTI,$Consorcio$Madroño,$Forschungszentrum$Jülich,$
KTH$Royal$Inst$Tech,$$MIT,$MSKCC,$National$Institute$of$Informatics,$National$Taiwan$Univ$
College$of$Medicine,$National$Taiwan$Normal$Univ,$NYU$Langone$Medical$Center,$Oxford$
University,$Penn$State,$Purdue$Univ,$Riga$Technical$Univ,$SUNYFStonybrook,$Texas$A&M$
Univ,$Univ$Bern,$Univ.$Cadiz,$Univ$Carlos$III$de$Madrid,$Univ$Oviedo,$Univ$Zaragoza,$Univ$
College$London,$Univ$Colorado,$Univ$Hong$Kong,$Univ$Kansas,$Univ$Manchester,$Univ$
Michigan,$Univ$Missouri,$Univ$Politécnica$Madrid,$Univ.$Waikato,$Univ$Washington$
Repositories* Altmetric,$Association$of$Users$of$Ukranian$Research$and$Academic$Network,$Australian$
and*Profile* National$Data$Service,$AVEDAS,$British$Library,$Copyright$Clearance$Center,$CrossRef,$
Systems*
DataCite,$Dryad,$F1000$Research,$Faculty$of$1000,$figshare,$Impact$Story,$Knode,$
M2Community,$OCLC,$PubMed$Europe$(EBI),$Symplectic,$Thomson$Reuters,$Überresearch$$
!
Repositories
and Profile
Systems
Universities and
Research Orgs
Publishers
Associations
Funders
EMEA
37%
Americas
50%
AsiaPac
13%
15

16. Registrations growing steadily
500,000
450,000
400,000
350,000
ORCID has issued over
525,000 identifiers since our
launch in October 2012
300,000
Member
Creator
250,000
Website
200,000
Trusted
party
150,000
100,000
50,000
-­‐
Oct
15 February 2014
Nov
Dec
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
orcid.org
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec
16

17. Broad international usage
Country
USA
China
Portugal
UK
India
Spain
Italy
Brazil
Germany
Japan
Australia
France
Canada
Iran
Russia
South
Korea
Turkey
Sweden
Netherlands
Malaysia
Taiwan
Egypt
Poland
Switzerland
Mexico
Vietnam
Belgium
Saudi
Arabia
Greece
Denmark
• 36 countries >10,000
unique visitors
• 84 countries >1,000
unique visitors
• Registry supports
multiple character sets
• Content in Spanish,
French, English, and
Chinese (adding
Portuguese, Korean,
Japanese, and Russian in
2014)
15 February 2014
orcid.org
Visits
370082
230908
155445
127906
126960
104542
88814
84693
83155
75587
63133
61973
50670
44592
44061
42598
36496
33458
31583
31516
30983
27373
22350
22043
21973
16820
16011
15875
15302
13152
%
15.5%
9.7%
6.5%
5.4%
5.3%
4.4%
3.7%
3.6%
3.5%
3.2%
2.6%
2.6%
2.1%
1.9%
1.8%
1.8%
1.5%
1.4%
1.3%
1.3%
1.3%
1.1%
0.9%
0.9%
0.9%
0.7%
0.7%
0.7%
0.6%
0.6%
17

18. Funding policy
http://biomedicalresearchworkforce.nih.gov/tracking-system.htm#d
“Greater precision and transparency of the research outputs
linked to a particular funder or grant is vital to help us better
understand the impact of our funding.”
Liz Allen, Head of Evaluation, Wellcome Trust
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9298-3168
“Where possible, it is also
recommended that contributors be
uniquely identifiable, and data uniquely
attributable, through identifiers which
are persistent, non-proprietary, open
and interoperable (e.g. through
leveraging existing sustainable initiatives
such as ORCID for contributor
identifiers and DataCite for data
identifiers).”
--European Commission Grantee
Guidelines
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/data/ref/h2020/
grants_manual/hi/oa_pilot/h2020-hi-oa-pilot-guide_en.pdf
18

19. bit.ly/1abIOyG
National adoption
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/di_researchmanagement/researchinformation/orcid.aspx
http://openaccess.blogg.kb.se/2013/01/30/slutrapport-fran-projekt-forfattarindentifikatorer/
15 February 2014
orcid.org
19

20. Who is
Integrating
and How?
•
•
•
•
•
Research Funders
Professional Associations
Publishers
Universities and Research Orgs
Repositories, CRIS, Metrics Sites
For a list of organizations and integrations see
http://orcid.org/organizations/integrators
20

21. Grant applications: NIH SciENcv
Import iD from
ORCID record
Link ScienCV record to
ORCID using OAuth
15 February 2014
orcid.org
21

22. Grant applications
v The US Department of Energy has integrated ORCID iDs into
their E-Link and Announcement Notices.
https://www.osti.gov/elink/aboutorcid.jsp
v The Australian NHMRC has integrated ORCID identifiers into
their RGMS grant application system.
http://www.nhmrc.gov.au/media/newsletters/
research-tracker/2013/nhmrc-researchtracker-28-june-2013
v The Wellcome Trust has integrated ORCID iDs into its eGrants
application system.
15 February 2014
orcid.org
22

23. Professional associations
“AGU is implementing ORCIDs in our member
records, editorial databases, and papers. Having
the ability to uniquely identify scientists helps the
society, editors, authors, and members in many
ways, from improving efficiency to providing
services and support.”
Brooks Hanson, Director of Publications, American Geophysical Union
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6230-7145
15 February 2014
orcid.org
23

24. Publishing
15 February 2014
orcid.org
24

25. How are
Universities
Engaging?
• Encouraging ORCID adoption by faculty,
researchers, and grad students
• Record creation
• Embedding in repositories, theses and
dissertations
• Tying to university identifiers/directory
information
• Incorporating in researcher information/
CRIS systems
For more on university integrators see
http://orcid.org/organizations/researchorganizations
25

26. “We want to use ORCIDs to simplify the life of
Oxford’s researchers for working with institutional
systems and publishers’ systems by re-using already
available information for publication data
management and reporting.
The motto is: Input once – re-use often.”
Wolfram Horstmann, Associate Director, Bodleian Libraries, University of
Oxford
http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8673-6104
15 February 2014
orcid.org
26

27. Career Life Cycle
http://guides.library.tamu.edu/content.php?pid=553864&sid=4564757
15 February 2014
orcid.org
27

28. Third party tools: Metrics
Use your ORCID iD
to obtain usage
metrics for your
public works
http://impactstory.org
15 February 2014
orcid.org
28

29. What’s next?
• Grants & account delegation (Q1)
• Triple the registry to 1.5 million users in 2014
• Build membership & support adoption: support
national memberships, reduce barriers to using
authentication, document use cases
• Support adoption: Increase international reach:
more languages, ambassadors, & community
partners
29

30. Need more information?
Thank you!
• Find out more at http://orcid.org
• More on membership at http://orcid.org/about/membership
• Learn about tools to embed ORCID iDs at http://
support.orcid.org/knowledgebase/
• Subscribe to our blog at http://orcid.org/about/news and follow
@ORCID_Org on Twitter
• Attend an Outreach Meeting, http://orcid.org/about/events
• May 21-22, Chicago
• November 5, Tokyo
15 February 2014
orcid.org
30

31. Supporting Evaluation with Unique and Persistent
Identifiers for Researchers
16 February 2014
AAAS Annual Meeting, Chicago
Rebecca Bryant, PhD
Director of Community, ORCID
r.bryant@orcid.org
@ORCID_ORG
http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2753-3881
Contact Info: p. +1-301-922-9062 a. 10411 Motor City Drive, Suite 750, Bethesda, MD 20817 USA
orcid.org