by Laura J. Wilkinson

1. ORCID:
WHY IDENTIFIERS MATTER
York| DECEMBER 5, 2017
@laurajwilkinson
@ORCID_Org
Laura J. Wilkinson
Education & Outreach Specialist
l.wilkinson@orcid.org
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8922-7839

2. Imagine a world where:
You could search the internet and find all of
a researcher’s work with a single query – in
any browser
You could auto-populate standard
publication and grant forms – any platform,
any country
You could in near real time see what your
researchers or grantees are publishing – and
also know their current affiliation and other
funding

3. WHY PERSISTENT IDs?
Challenges for the individual:
- Multiple profile systems
- Manual data entry
- Administrative burden
- No control of personal
data
- Name ambiguity
- Recognition/credit
Challenges for the
organisations:
- Name ambiguity
- Trust in metadata
- Reporting latency
- Silo systems
- Return on investment
- Discoverability

4. Prior to ORCID, the research community
lacked the ability to link researchers and
scholars with their professional activities.
• Name variations:
• Laura J Wilkinson, LJ Wilkinson, L
Wilkinson, Laura Jillian Wilkinson
• Institutional variations:
• ORCID, ORCID Incorporated, ORCID
Inc, ORCID EMEA
WHY IS THERE A PROBLEM?

7. ● Documenting impact through research
performance frameworks
● Reducing researcher burden
… but these two goals seem at cross-purposes?
RESEARCH MANAGEMENT TRENDS

8. WHAT IS ORCID?
• An identifier for researchers
• A registry
• A set of standard procedures for connecting
researchers to their affiliations and activities
• A committed community building connectors
• An international-scale open research effort

9. ORCID IS OPEN
• Non-profit and platform-neutral
• International service that integrates with other
researcher identifiers
• Registry use is free for individuals
• Independent non-profit membership organization
• Open data, software, APIs, and documentation

10. MANAGING RESEARCH
INFORMATION IS NOT EASY
• Research information systems can be stuck in the
past; some are not even online or networked
• Research information is stored in ‘silos’ – systems do
not talk to one another
• Researchers and administrators waste a lot of time
typing the same information into systems again, and
again, and again…
How much time does it take to collect and verify
information?

11. HOW CAN WE MAKE THINGS
BETTER?
•Get digital and get online.
•Use open, shared systems wherever possible
•Try to automate everything you can
•Let the machines do the talking
And finally… Use identifiers for people, places and
things!

12. ORCID PUTS THE RESEARCHER
IN CONTROL
Researchers sign in to their ORCID account to:
• Connect their iD to research systems
• Control who can access their information
• Choose what information to make public

13. INTEROPERABILITY—ENTER ONCE REUSE OFTEN

14. Researcher
university
Permissions to use
ORCID record
Register & Manage
ORCID record
• Basic information
• Name
• Email addresses
etc.
• Account settings
xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx
Employment:
XXX University
Source: XXX University
ORCID record
This researcher works at:
funder
This researcher was
awarded:
Funding:
YYY Foundation, Grant #123
Source: YYY Foundation
This researcher
contributed as:
Works:
XXXX
Source: XXX Publisher
publisher

15. THERE ARE MANY USEFUL
IDENTIFIERS

16. AUTHENTICATION
Collect iD using an
authenticated API to
ensure:
● the person and the iD
belong together
● the iD is correctly
entered
● privacy is respected
For more info on membership, visit http://orcid.org/about/membership

17. PERMISSIONS
…. and also, authentication provides ORGANISATIONS the
opportunity to ask for permissions to read/write/update
ORCID records.
No authentication With authentication

18. ORCID RECORDINSTITUTION
SYSTEM
ADDING OR UPDATING
Affiliation
Works
Funding

19. ORCID RECORD
READING
INSTITUTION
SYSTEM
Affiliation
Works
Funding

20. HOW CAN WE BENEFIT FROM
IDENTIFIERS?
•If identifiers already exist, USE THEM
•Help the community to understand the gaps you
need to see filled – we are here to listen and learn
•Take advantage of the connections we’ve already
built. They can bring you benefits right now.
So how do identifiers already work together?

21. ORCID AUTO-UPDATE
Author
• Link own
ORCID to
author
profile
• Add
ORCID to
co-authors
too
Publisher
Embed
authors’
ORCID in the
metadata
when the
manuscript
is accepted
Crossr
ef
Check
authors’
ORCID in the
metadata
when
assigning
DOIs to new
publications
ORCI
D
Receive new
publication
info from
Crossref and
add to
authors’
ORCID
records
Notified via email

22. PUBLISHER OPEN LETTER
https://orcid.org/content/requiring-orcid-publication-workflows-open-letter
Over 1,500 journals are now requiring ORCID iDs

23. REPOSITORIES & CRIS
Example: King Abdullah University
of Science & Technology

24. THE COMMUNITY OF INTEGRATORS
• 835 members from 43 countries, consortia in the UK,
Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium,
Germany, Italy, South Africa, Taiwan, Australia, New
Zealand, Canada, and the US
• 4m researchers, 1.6m records with at least one
connection: 25.7m works, 366K grants, 161K reviews, 2m
education and 1.6m employment items
• Over 791 integrations across sectors of the research
community

25. Taking a coordinated national approach to
research information is crucial. The benefits
include:
• Better understanding of the impact and
challenges of research in context
• Efficiency and convenience gains for
researchers and administrators
• More time doing research!

26. INTEGRATIONS

27. INSTITUTIONAL CONNECT
Request permissions to write to/update the user's
ORCID record to assert affiliation (and, if
applicable, works) with your organization.

28. COLLECT & CONNECT BADGES
SYNCHRONIZE
With ORCID record
DISPLAY
on sites & metadata
CONNECT
information to record
COLLECT
iD
AUTHENTICATE ENTER ONCE
REUSE
OFTEN
Synchronize with other systems
EMPLOYERSPUBLISHERS FUNDERS

29. Getting my integration launched
● Register for sandbox credentials
● Learn about APIs, OAuth, and how to access the ORCID API
● Create a test ORCID iD through the sandbox user interface
● Determine how you want to use the ORCID API and what
permissions you’ll need
● Build and test your application on the sandbox
● Create communication points to your users
● Check in with ORCID staff to demonstrate how your application
works
● Register for credentials on the ORCID Production Registry
● Transfer your application to the ORCID Production Registry
● Launch—and let everyone know
INTEGRATIONS

30. Deadline 31 December 2017
Summary of changes to v2.0
● HTTPS required
● Streamlined permission scopes
● Multiple XSD, and use of namespaces and common elements
● Summary views, making large records more efficient to handle
● Items on ORCID record read and updated on an individual basis
● Support for grouped works, funding, and peer review items within the ORCID
message schema, reflecting the functionality in the user interface
● Support for ORCID’s peer review functionality
● Better support for the biographical information associated with the ORCID record
● Flexible support for new external identifiers
● Faster search with streamlined search results -- and affiliations search is coming
soon!
● Updated error codes and messaging
UPGRADE TO API 2.0

31. https://orcid.org/help
COMMUNITY RESOURCES

32. The UK research community has the
power to improve the value and
openness of its research information.
Unique researcher identifiers have the
potential to bring streamline
information sharing and bring
transparency to the creation and re-
use of that information.

33. • Find out more at
http://members.orcid.org
• Register for an iD at
http://orcid.org/register
• Community resources at
http://orcid.org/help
THANK YOU!
Laura J. Wilkinson
Education & Outreach Specialist
l.wilkinson@orcid.org
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8922-7839