What Is ORCID?

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:00:00 +0000

This post originally appeared on the Software Carpentry website.

Part of being a successful researcher lies in the ability to stand out from your peers, which can be done through making and being acknowledge for valuable and original contributions. Once acknowledged for one discovery this can then act as a springboard to allow your peers to identify your other scholarly contributions, or alternatively identify potential for future collaboration, or be used as a proof of your research skills when applying for further funding. In short, making your work and accomplishments known is crucial to success in academia.

Yet whilst so many functions of the academic process hang on the concept of citations and as such the ability to identify the researchers behind a piece of work, the actual means of identifying a researcher is not without its problems. For example how to identify the discoveries and related work of a specific "John Smith" after coming across one of the author's particularly informative publications? How do we keep up to date with a researcher's publications if they change their name? How do we keep track of a successful researcher who works across a number of institutions over the course of their career or who engages in work across a range of disciplines?

ORCID on The Carpentries

What Is ORCID?