ORCID, Open Access, and You!

By Terri Ottosen October 30, 2017

 

October 23-29, 2017, is International Open Access Week. It is an opportunity to celebrate and advocate for open information.

Researchers can support open access and build their own scholarly reputation at the same time through the ORCID iD system. In honor of Open Access Week, Jennifer Solomon, UNC’s new open access librarian, talks about ORCID and its benefits for researchers. The ORCID team at UNC’s libraries has been working to bring ORCID iD and its benefits to UNC researchers.

What is an ORCID iD?

ORCID stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID. It is a persistent and unique digital identifier that a researcher or scholarly author can use with publications in any discipline. The ORCID iD is a string of randomly assigned characters. It does not include your birth date, social security number, or any other personal information.

How can having an ORCID iD help researchers?

Most importantly, an ORCID iD allows name disambiguation. If you share your name with another person—or maybe even dozens of other people—it can be difficult for someone else to know which publications are actually yours! Your ORCID iD is yours alone. When you associate a piece of work with your ORCID iD, people can have confidence that it is, in fact, your work.

Once you have your ORCID iD, you create a profile and add your publications and institutional affiliations. ORCID lets you control your own scholarly profile. Adding your ORCID iD to your website, email signature, and publications is an easy way to enhance your visibility as a researcher. And since the ORCID iD is designed to be used throughout your career, you can continue to add publications and connections even if you change institutions or start researching in a new field.

Finally, many funding agencies and publishers already require an ORCID as part of their submission processes. This is an increasingly common practice.

How does an ORCID help promote open access?

Many publishers and repositories are already working with ORCID iDs. Here at Carolina, for example, you can include your ORCID iD as part of your author information when you deposit a manuscript in the Carolina Digital Repository.

ORCID is open-source, non-proprietary, and community-based. I expect that it will be an increasingly important part of open access culture and of efforts to support access to research data and innovations.

Can the Libraries help researchers with ORCID?

Yes! It’s free and easy to register. You can sign up in less than a minute, and UNC librarians are happy to walk you through that process.

UNC’s Health Sciences Library (HSL) first led the way in implementing and testing ORCID. Now, a Library-wide ORCID team is working with researchers across campus and in every discipline. The team has created excellent resources and outreach tools about the benefits of an ORCID iD and how to get started. The ORCID team will soon lead campus workshops to provide information and support for the ORCID registration process.

ORCID team members are happy to answer questions or meet with groups or departments to discuss ORCID or anything related to open access. You can email the team or ask a librarian in person or online for help getting started with ORCID iD.

 

Last modified: 10/30/17