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ORCID Brand Guidelines

ORCID’s name, logos, icons, illustrations, and fonts are all part of the ORCID brand. These brand assets include, but are not limited to:

  • the name ORCID
  • the registered logo ORCID®
  • the trademarks consisting of the logo (“ORCID”) 
  • our tagline “Connecting Research and Researchers” 
  • the green iD icon, and
  • use of the name ORCID in domains. 

It’s challenging for a non-profit organization with limited staff such as ORCID to enforce brand integrity by policing incorrect usage of the ORCID brand, especially considering the volume of member organizations working to market their hard-earned ORCID integrations. We want to support these efforts by making our guidelines as clear and easy to follow, and we are grateful for the proactive cooperation and collaboration of our community partners.

General brand guidance

These guidelines define proper use of ORCID’s brand assets, as well as best practices for how to display ORCID iDs and how to refer to ORCID. 

The ORCID name

The name of the ORCID organization is “ORCID.” We provide a Registry of “ORCID iDs.” ORCID is both a proper noun and an adjective. Use the name ORCID as an adjective, as in “ORCID Registry” or “ORCID identifier,” unless referring to the organization itself, as in “ORCID offers a Registry at https://orcid.org.”

The first or most prominent time the name “ORCID” appears in printed materials or on any webpage, we ask that you use the registered trademark symbol, ®, in the upper right hand side of the logo: “ORCID®”.

When talking or writing about ORCID:

DO
  • Use “ORCID” as a noun to refer only to the organization and the noun phrase “ORCID identifier” or “ORCID iD” (lower case i, upper case D) to refer to the identifier itself (e.g., “ORCID offers unique identifiers, known as ORCID iDs”).
  • Use the phrase “ORCID record” to refer to an ORCID account in the ORCID Registry containing information about the ORCID iD holder.
  • Ensure the title of your publication makes clear that it’s about ORCID and not by ORCID:
    • Yes: “Sharing your ORCID record”
    • No: “The ORCID guide to sharing your record”
DON’T
  • Use “Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier” to represent the name of ORCID or the identifier.
  • Use the word “ORCIDs” to refer to ORCID iDs.
  • Use the word “profile” to refer to an ORCID iD. ORCID is not a social network, and the word “profile” associated with ORCID can create user confusion. Please use “ORCID record” instead.
  • Use the word “ORCID” to refer to services other than ORCID.

ORCID logos and icons

Logos for Member organizations

The full ORCID logo should not be changed or altered in any way. We offer a special logo to ORCID Member organizations to indicate their membership status. If your organization is an ORCID Member, contact us to get your logo files.

iD icon links

These display requirements allow ORCID iDs to remain connected to the ORCID Registry. For example, if ORCID iDs are not linked back to the Registry, researchers cannot easily learn more about that researcher’s identity, work, and affiliations. We welcome and strongly encourage the community to use and display ORCID iDs.

Organizations should obtain and display authenticated iDs. Do not allow users to copy or type in their ORCID iD, look up iDs and pre-populate fields with those iDs, or ask users to select their iD from a pre-populated list.

An ORCID iD link consists of two elements:

  • An ORCID iD icon
  • Text
image of orcid icon with attached example url

We do not currently allow references to authorized ORCID iDs without using the iD icon.

The ORCID iD icon and associated text should link to an ORCID record URL. 

Icons should only be used for authenticated ORCID iDs. 

Display Formats

  1. Full ORCID iD – orcid logo 16pxhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5727-2427
  2. Compact ORCID iD – orcid logo 16px 0000-0001-2345-6789
  3. Inline ORCID iD – Sarah Pascoe orcid logo 16px
Full ORCID iD

orcid logo 16pxhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5727-2427

The full ORCID iD displays the iD icon before a complete ORCID record URL.

This is the preferred format for links to ORCID records.

Why use a full URL?
  • Displaying the full ORCID iD URL helps search engine robots and crawlers recognize the iD as a resolvable URL.
  • A full URL is simple for people to copy, reference, or link to the URL and share with others.
  • Using the familiar URL pattern reinforces that ORCID iDs are both a persistent link and a persistent identifier.
  • The https protocol builds confidence in the security and privacy of ORCID iDs. 
When to use the full ORCID iD format
  • The ORCID iD is shown on its own or in a list of links.
  • There is sufficient space to show the full ORCID iD.
Example HTML
<a href="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5727-2427">
<img alt="ORCID logo" src="https://info.orcid.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/orcid_16x16.png" width="16" height="16" />
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-2345-6789
</a>
Compact ORCID iD

The compact ORCID iD is a shortened version of the ORCID iD that displays the iD icon before the 16-digit ORCID identifier.

orcid logo 16px 0000-0001-2345-6789

When to use the compact ORCID iD format
  • You want to reference a specific ORCID record but need a shorter/smaller format.
  • You have limited space available in which to fit the ORCID iD link.
Example HTML
<a href="https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5727-2427">
<img alt="ORCID logo" src="https://info.orcid.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/orcid_16x16.png" width="16" height="16" />
0000-0001-2345-6789
</a>
Inline ORCID iD

The inline ORCID iD is the simplest format for displaying a link to an ORCID record. The ORCID iD icon is displayed after a record holder’s name, short phrase, or sentence fragment.

  • Nigel Havers’ ORCID record orcid logo 16px
  • Sarah Pascoe orcid logo 16px

The ORCID iD icon should be linked to the full URL of the relevant ORCID record. Optionally, the preceding text can also be linked to the same record.

When to use the inline ORCID iD format
  • When the link to record is part of a sentence or paragraph (e.g., “… recently updated information on Susan Gerhard’s ORCID record orcid logo 16px”).
Example HTML
… recently updated works on <a href="https://orcid.org/xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx">Susan Gerhard's ORCID record <img alt="ORCID logo" src="https://info.orcid.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/orcid_16x16.png" width="16" height="16" /></a>

Using the ORCID logo or icon

Do
  • Use the scalable SVG icon wherever possible.
  • Use the optimal size for the ORCID iD icon which is 24×24. If there’s space, use a larger version.
  • Scale the iD icon to match the line height of the surrounding text but go no smaller than 16×16.
  • Allow for at least 50% buffer space around the icon. For the 16×16 pixel icon, this translates into a four-pixel margin on each side of the icon.
  • Link to https://orcid.org when the green iD icon is used on its own.
  • Use icons, icluding reversed out icons for dark backgrounds, from our icon asset library.
Don’t
  • Display the ORCID iD icon any smaller than 16x16px. 
  • Manipulate the icon.
  • Rotate the icon.
  • Add a drop shadow.
  • Animate the icon.
  • Change the color of the icon.
  • Use any other marks or logos, including the official ORCID logo, to represent ORCID.
  • Use our marks on merchandise without our prior permission.
  • Display the green iD icon next to unauthenticated ORCID iDs.

Naming your applications, products, or domains

DO
  • Name your website, product, or application something unique.
DON’T
  • Use “ORCID” as a subdomain or in the name of your website, application, or product without our prior permission.
  • Use just “ORCID” with a simple letter or number combination (for example, ORCID#1, ORCIDid).
  • Use “ORCID” in the name of your website.
  • Register a domain containing “ORCID,” including misspellings, transliterations, or similar variations thereof, without our prior permission.
  • Apply for a trademark with a name containing “ORCID,” including misspellings, transliterations, or similar variations thereof.

Visual design of your website or application

  • DO design your site with unique branding and logos.
  • DON’T copy the look and feel of ORCID’s websites, as this could create user confusion.

Applications that cannot implement these guidelines due to the technical limitations of their platform should make their best effort to satisfy as many rules as possible. Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis by email approval. Please contact us if you feel that an exception is necessary.

Download ORCID brand assets

You can find all of ORCID’s approved brand assets here.

Guidance for publications

These guidelines are intended to help promote authors’ use of ORCID iDs by increasing visibility in the publishing process, to provide clear display options for publishers to choose from to support consistency in implementation and community use, and to provide criteria to enable publishers to assess effectiveness of display.

Digital publications

The ORCID iD should be displayed in all formats of the article (i.e., HTML, PDF, EPUB) as well as related metadata.

  • The ORCID identifier should be displayed as the full iD URI, with https scheme (unless https is not possible for technical reasons):
  • The visibly displayed iD URI and iD icon should always be an active hyperlink to the ORCID record.
  • ORCID iDs should be visible and resolvable on all devices (computers and mobile devices).

For print, use of the ORCID iD icon in addition to the iD URI is encouraged, though remains at the discretion of the publisher, and a black and white iD icon may also be used.

Example black and white iD

Hyper-authored publications

  • Display of iDs in hyper-authored publications (i.e., publications with 50 or more authors) should follow the guidelines for non-hyper-authored publications as much as is possible.
  • A list of both authors’ names and ORCID iDs should be included with the publication. Location for both is at the discretion of the publisher. Possibilities include: following the initial author list (for ORCID iDs), at the end of the publication (for both authors’ names and ORCID iDs), or any of the locations shown for non-hyper-authored publications.

Publishers who wish to display ORCID iDs but require further assistance are encouraged to contact ORCID.

ORCID IDs in Data Repositories

ORCID iDs should be displayed where user/contributor information is displayed, in locations such as:

  • User account/profile pages
  • Item summary/abstract pages
  • Browse by author/creator/contributor pages

Authenticated iDs should be displayed according to the​ ​Guidelines on the display of ORCID iDs in publications​, which includes the following formats:

Unauthenticated iDs should be displayed using one of the options above, followed by text such as “(unconfirmed)”, “(unverified)” or “(unauthenticated)”, or the equivalent in the local language:

ORCID Brand Guidelines for Community Websites

Specific concerns with the use of ORCID in domains

As an independent, open scholarly infrastructure non-profit that serves the entire global research community we must avoid the appearance that ORCID, Inc. is managed by any particular institution. As outlined in our blog post We won’t be sold – ORCID, we are a membership organization and by design we are set up to be responsive to our community. Though our member organizations drive and control our future growth, we must maintain clarity around the fact that we are also an independent, not-for-profit 501(c)3 organization registered in the United States and subject to laws of the US Internal Revenue Service that specify that we cannot be purchased or otherwise managed by a commercial entity.

Another major concern is potential confusion for those trying to access the official ORCID, Inc. site. It should always be clear that member organizations and consortia do not appear to be representing ORCID, nor should other organizations’ sites look like they could be the official ORCID site. It should be clear to anyone viewing another organization’s site—and who have never seen the ORCID, Inc. site—whether they are looking at the official ORCID site or a site run by the partner organization. Guidelines for visual branding in community ORCID sites are below, but first let’s discuss the use of ORCID in domains, or in urls.

Anatomy of a url

The brand domain is the part of a url between the subdomain and the top-level domain (TLD). The use of “ORCID” as the entire brand domain is reserved exclusively for ORCID, Inc. 

Examples of the ORCID name in domains

ORCID in the brand domain patterns

Using ORCID as part of the brand domain, regardless of top-level domain (i.e., .org, .gov, .eu, .edu, etc.), is our preferred usage pattern for consortia. Consortia need more scope to accurately represent ORCID within their region or sector. For example:

  • ORCID-us.org
  • ORCID-us.edu
  • ORCID-oxford.uk

This pattern is reserved exclusively for ORCID consortia, and may not be used by other organizations or individuals. Permission to set up domains following this pattern should be included in the ORCID consortium lead agreement.

Using ORCID as the entire brand domain, regardless of TLD is prohibited:

  • ORCID.dk
  • ORCID.de

Explicit permission must be granted for any organization that wishes to use ORCID as the entire brand domain and if granted, ORCID will own and manage the domain. In the case of existing consortia using ORCID in this way, we would like to take over ownership of the ORCID.tld and direct it to the organization’s site.

ORCID in the subdomain patterns

This pattern may be used by organizations for information or services provided by that organization which are specific to ORCID. A link to the orcid.org homepage must be included on all landing pages, as well as an acknowledgement of the ORCID trademark.

Using ORCID as part of the subdomain:

  • orcidpilot.jiscinvolve.org

Using ORCID as the entire subdomain:

  • orcid.scopusfeedback.com

ORCID in the domain path patterns 

This is the most common, and acceptable use of orcid in a domain. It may be used again for information or services provided by an organization which is specific to ORCID. We ask, but don’t require, that a link to the orcid.org homepage is included on all landing pages, as well as an acknowledgement of the ORCID trademark.

Other branding considerations for community websites

We understand that a lot of community content was created before these guidelines were drafted, and we assume that every single use of our name has been in good faith and motivated by excitement about advocating for ORCID. It is in this spirit that we’ve strived to make our guidelines easier to adhere to, and our reasoning behind those guidelines clear to members, and provide assistance to those whose use of the ORCID brand falls outside our guidelines. We will remain open to feedback about ways we can make this clearer, or give more resources to our community to help them spread the word about ORCID and help them meet their own needs.

  • A specific agreement must be granted for any websites that deviate from our standard domain usage and branding guidelines. This includes the use of ORCID logos and marks, orcid domains and ORCID site design. The Danish consortium trademark agreement, drafted in consultation with our legal counsel, can be found here.
  • If an agreement is reached for use of ORCID as the discrete brand domain with another top-level domain (see above diagram, e.g., ORCID.dk) by a member/consortium organization, ORCID should obtain or retain control of the domain, and provide a use license to the member organization and the service for the domain to point to the member’s site, rather than having the member org secure the domain.
  • Alternatively, we can provide members/consortia with their own presence on our community forum that they can maintain and develop, for example: http://community.orcid.org/<consortium_name>

We can also work with members to create a generalized structure such as those found on the RDA site: Research Data Provenance IG | RDA

Special considerations

If you’d like to make any use of our logos or icons that is not permitted under these guidelines, you must obtain our prior written consent. Please contact us and include a visual mockup of the intended use. We look forward to hearing your ideas.

ORCID® is a registered trademark and the ORCID logo and
iD icon are trademarks of ORCID, Inc.