This week I am in Linz, Austria at TNC17, an international gathering of professionals in the identity and access management sector. A year ago at this same meeting, ORCID announced the launch of functionality for researchers to access their ORCID account using their institutional sign in credentials. Since then, over 25,000 ORCID registrants have connected their accounts with approximately 725 institutions worldwide.
ORCID continues to collaborate with the identity and access management community to understand what broader role we could play in the sector. We have worked with a REFEDS working group to develop a white paper, which I am presenting at TNC17. One of the recommendations is to further leverage the existing interplay between ORCID and identity and access management protocols. Specifically, when a researcher connects their institutional and ORCID accounts, the institution should request permission to create a reciprocal connection, and add the researcher’s institutional affiliation to their ORCID record. We are calling this Institutional Connect.
Today, we announce the launch of our Institutional Connect pilot program, an important component of our “Enter once, reuse often” mantra. We are looking for a small group of interested and enthusiastic organizations to work with us to test the technology and communication components of the program, and to explore issues including how best to update the ORCID record when a person leaves an institution. Participants will work closely with the ORCID team, contributing to a program that will be used globally, and they will be acknowledged for their participation in a special section on our website. If you are interested in participating in the pilot, please send us a note.
How does Institutional Connect work?
There are three steps to Institutional Connect:
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Researcher connects ORCID and institution accounts: Researchers can connect their accounts if their affiliated institutions (and related identity federations) participate ;in the eduGAIN interfederation. The workflow is managed in the standard ORCID login process.
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ORCID presents an option to grant permission: Once connected, researchers at participating institutions will be presented with a message from the institution asking for permission to complete the account linking.
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Institution receives the iD, and adds an affiliation to the ORCID record: Once permission is granted, the institution will receive the researcher’s ORCID iD, and a “token” to add and update affiliation information (organization name, organization identifier, affiliation dates) to the researcher’s ORCID record. The institution may update this information as long as the researcher allows.
Interested in learning more? If you happen to be at TNC17 this week, find me, and let’s chat about it! Or, you can read our integration workflow and join our upcoming Institutional Connect webinar on June 20. You can also look through presentations and API bootcamp activities presented at Internet2 2016 Technology Exchange.