The ORCID vision is a world in which all who participate in research, scholarship, and innovation are uniquely identified and connected to their contributions and affiliations across disciplines, borders, and time. Here, you can learn how to work with the community to make that vision a reality, by focusing on a shared user experience and key roles and opportunities for implementing identifiers in your sector.
Below are five basic steps to implementing ORCID identifiers, all of which are included in our documented workflows.
Collect authenticated ORCID iDs only!
Never ask researchers to manually type in or search for their ORCID iD. Collecting validated ORCID iDs for individuals through the OAUTH process is important. Individuals sign into their ORCID accounts using their registered email address and password or they can create a new account and then authorize your system to obtain their ORCID iD. This ensures you get the correct ORCID iD for the researcher and that the information on that record reflects their research activities (see What’s So Special About Signing In). This process also allows you to obtain permission to read and update your researchers ORCID record
Display authenticated iDs
ORCID welcomes and encourages community use of ORCID iDs. Our goal is to make ORCID iDs readable and useful. Once a researcher has connected their ORCID iD to your integration, store and publicly display their iD within your systems, websites and include in third party data where applicable. Display the iD following our Brand guidelines
Add data to your researchers ORCID records
It’s essential that organizations play their part by creating validated assertions about the connections between them and their researchers. For research institutions, this means validating their researchers’ affiliation(s); for publishers, their works (publications, reviews, datasets, and more); and for funders, their awards and grants. Adding this information to ORCID records enabling researchers to easily provide validated information to systems and profiles they use.
Read data from your researchers ORCID record
Most institutions ask their researchers for the same information multiple times for different purposes. To save them time entering this information manually, and to improve the quality and robustness of your data, you can instead populate standard fields in your reports and forms using information from a researcher’s ORCID record. You can also collect information from ORCID records and use identifiers from those records to query verified scholarly data sources for full data which can then be added to your system.
Synchronize the information flow between your system and ORCID
Using the ORCID API to exchange information between your system and ORCID records allows up-to-date and accurate information to flow between your systems and the other systems your researchers use. This provides the greatest benefit for your researchers, your organization, and the broader scholarly community. It enables your researchers to spend more time making contributions and less time managing information about them; it makes authoritative information you have added to your researchers ORCID records available to the other organizations they interact with too.
If you have any questions then please contact your Regional ORCID Engagement Lead.