ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor I) is a unique identifier proposed by an international non-profit organization of the same name. ORCID is the most widely used identifier to date to link researchers, in the broadest sense, to their research productions.

Why have an ORCID ID as a researcher?

ORCID, whose initiative comes from the United States, has the main purpose of assigning a unique identifier to a researcher (ORCID ID). Indeed, once in possession of this ID, the researcher can use it to identify himself in publications related to the results or data of his research but also and especially to be easily identifiable by peers.

The ORCID ID is therefore a unique entry point to identify a researcher and above all to avoid the too many problems associated with homonyms, name changes, pen names, acronyms and different spellings,... All these particularities that make evaluation work difficult within research institutions.

More and more publishers are also requiring authors wishing to publish to have an ORCID number. We can already mention: Science journals, Frontiers, l’American Geophysical Union (AGU), eLife, EMBO, Hindawi, the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Public Library of Science (PLOS) ainsi que The Royal Society.

ORCID ID, really unique ?

Not quite, there are many other initiatives besides ORCID... But can we then talk about a unique identifier? Yes and no...

NO because it is indeed not unique in its kind but YES because unlike other models such as Researcher ID (Thomson Reuters), Scopus ID (Elsevier), ISNI, ... ORCID ID is the result of an independent consortium composed of a multitude of private and public partners from all horizons: Springer-Nature, Elsevier, Wiley, OCLC, CERN, Harvard University, MIT,... Today, just over 2 million ORCID IDs have been registered in all countries, while a recent OECD report estimated the number of researchers worldwide at 7.8 million.

Don’t have an ORCID ID yet ?

It's easy, go to http://orcid.org/ to create your profile for free. A few tips to register in a few minutes:

• Once on the site, go to the "FOR RESEARCHERS" section and click on the "REGISTER FOR AN ORCID ID" tab
• Encode your personal information that will be used for your identification. Once this step is completed, you are assigned an ORCID ID number (e. g. 0000-0002-7348-5112).
• Click on this number and you will be taken to a web space that will include your professional information as a researcher. Fill in as many sections as you can to build your identity as a researcher. All fields are not mandatory and can be completed later.
• Once the information has been completed, you will need to specify the type of access you allow from among 3 options for making encoded information available (Everyone - Trusted Parties - Private) for each section of your ORCID registration (via the Manage Permissions tab).
• Congratulations, you have your own ORCID ID ready to use!

For more information, do not hesitate to contact the DIAL team