We are excited to announce the public launch of the ORCID Trust Program. Earlier this year we engaged privacy and data security experts to help us review and refine the practices and policies underpinning the trustworthiness of ORCID. This working group was chaired by board member Richard Ikeda, and included the following members:
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Alan Barcroft, NIHR
- Andrew Cormack, Jisc-JANET
- Leif Johansson, SUNET
- Yinghao Ma, American Chemical Society
- Chris Phillips, CANARIE
- Nick Roy, Internet2
- Bob Rudis
- Terry Smith, AAF
- Kaliya Young
Throughout this process, the working group acknowledged the extensive work we had already done. Our focus on researcher control has always been a central principle of ORCID. Our privacy and dispute policies remain critical in communicating our values in data ownership and integrity. And, our attention to ensuring the persistence of ORCID iDs is a key component in community adoption.
That’s not to say that we didn’t have work to do, and we thank the Working Group for their expert guidance in identifying gaps and prioritizing next steps for action during the coming months. Our internal staff growth over the last year has required us to more formally document and train on internal processes and procedures, and to incorporate additional tools to help us review and confirm that that we are not inadvertently risking the trust that we have had the privilege of earning from the community.
The first step in that journey is the launch of our Trust program, a comprehensive consideration of our practices and policies that support the trustworthiness of ORCID. We have organized the program into four broad areas:
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Individual control – Our tools and services provide you control over your registration, what is connected to your iD, and who can access your information. We provide system security and protection to ensure that user control is maintained.
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Reliable registry – We understand that dependability, availability, security, and durability are required of the systems and services we provide for you and the organizations you work with in the research community.
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Community accountability – We make ourselves accountable to all who use and support ORCID activities through our non-profit status, our membership-based sustainability model, community governance, and data dispute procedures.
- Information integrity – We work with the community to enable high-fidelity connections between individuals and their contributions and affiliations. We have developed processes and tools for creating, managing, and interpreting ORCID Registry information.
Look out for more news about this important new program in the coming months and, in the meantime, we’d love to hear your comments, suggestions, and other feedback!