Scholar Identity and Research Impact

• ORCID iD (https://orcid.org/) is a 16-digit unique identifier. 
• ORCID is free to register and use. 
• ORCID is used around the world by publishers, research institutions, and funders (see list)
• ORCID is open source
• ORCID supports the interoperable exchange of datasets

Read how ORCID compares to other profiles/author identifiers.

RECOMMENDATIONS BEFORE STARTING

• Search the ORCID registry to make sure you had not created a profile at another time. If you have, see the instructions below for how to resolve duplicate profiles.
• If you have more than 20 publications, do not try to enter everything manually: you can add works through direct import to automate and expedite populating the profile. This will avoid human error with manual input.
• Contact Library Research Services or your liaison librarian for assistance
   

RECOMMENDATIONS WHEN POPULATING

• Use the Making the Most of ORCID guide
• If you have research outputs that are unlikely to be indexed in any of the linking tools (conference papers, journal articles, books etc.) these will likely need to be entered manually. Try to include any relevant identifiers in the entry, especially dois.
• If you have an up-to-date ResearcherID and/or a Scopus Author ID, use these first to populate your ORCID with the linking tool.
• Add your institutional email and/or institutional affiliation and make it publicly viewable
• Consider making your works list either all or mostly all publicly viewable - this will make the persistent identifiers in the works list (see next bullet) exposed 
• Be sure to have persistent identifiers included in each entry whenever possible
• Contact Library Research Services or your liaison librarian for assistance and/or to have profile population done for you (see Granting Permissions below)

GRANTING PERMISSIONS to YOUR ORCID PROFILE

Permission to One or More Trusted Individuals

To enable someone to populate and/or update your ORCID profile on your behalf, you must make them a 'Trusted Individual'. To be a trusted individual, they MUST have an ORCID ID. Follow the 3 steps below. Once they have been added, their name and ORCID ID will appear in the Trusted Individual section list. To remove someone from this list, click 'Revoke access' next to the name you wish to remove.

1. Go to Trusted parties in your ORCID profile.
2. Add ORCID number, email address or person's name of the person you wish to add in Search box, and click 'Search ORCID for trusted individuals'
3. When their name and ORCID number appears, click Add.
    

Permission to Trusted Organizations

When you link your account for auto-updating, you are granting permission to that organization and becomes a trusted organization. The trusted organization uses these long-lasting permissions to continuously update your ORCID record with new information in its system. To see what organizations you have granted permissions, see the steps below. To revoke these permissions you can do so any time by clicking 'Revoke access' beside the organization.

1. Go to Trusted parties in your ORCID profile.
2. Consult the list under 'Trusted organizations'.

DELETING MULTIPLE ORCID PROFILES

Unlike proprietary profiles such as Scopus Author IDs or Web of Science ResearcherID, where multiple profiles of the same person are automatically created due to algorithmic mismatches between the publication information and the established profile, duplicate ORCID profiles are generated due to human error. That is to say, sometimes people forget that they have created a ORCID profile in the past and so they create another one. Having multiple profiles defeats the purpose of a singular record: it potentially dilutes your research impact as some analytics cannot resolve multiple profiles and is just plain confusing to potential collaborators trying figure out who is the real you!

If you have (or suspect you have) duplicate ORCID profiles, follow these steps:

1. Check the ORCID registry and note the possible/probable other profiles you may have created.
2. Determine the one you wish to keep: this becomes your 'primary profile'.
3. Log into EACH of the secondary profiles you wish to remove to confirm/document email addresses and passwords associated with each profile. To remove them, the email address and password to each account will need to be provided in the process of removal. You may at this time wish to export any records in any of the secondary profiles and reconcile them against the primary profile you are keeping to ensure you will not lose any information.
4. Proceed to follow the instructions provided in this ORCID article 'I have more than one ORCID ID' to remove secondary profiles. See also 'Get help with your ORCID'