ORCID iDs: An Overview for Researchers

ORCID iD Overview

An Open Researcher and Contributor iD (ORCID) is a unique digital identifier that helps link researchers to their grants, publications, and other research-related work. ORCID iDs are maintained by the nonprofit ORCID. At this time, the University of Washington is strongly encouraging registering for an ORCID iD.

Benefits

Registering for an ORCID iD is quick and provides many benefits to researchers:

• Consistency: Researchers can use the same iD throughout their career, even if their name changes or they switch institutions or fields.
• Summarizes Publication History: The iD can link to all research publications and other research-related material in a single place, which is useful in connections with both publishers and prospective research sponsors.
• Reduces Administration Time: The ORCID database integrates with many other databases and institutions. This enables customizable auto-population of biosketches and other documents required by some agencies (e.g., NIH and NSF), which saves researcher time. It also allows the University of Washington to take advantage of more efficient mechanisms of connecting you to federal agencies. In some cases, agencies require Principal Investigators to have an ORCID iD.
• Customizable Privacy: You control how much of your research and profile details is shown and to whom.

How to Register

1. Visit ORCID’s website to begin the registration process.
2. Enter your first name, last name, and email.
   
3. Create a password.
4. Select your preferred privacy settings and accept ORCID’s terms and conditions.
   

How to Affiliate with the University of Washington

1. After confirming your email with ORCID, access your profile and scroll to the Employment section and select the “+ Add” button.
2. Search for and select “University of Washington” from the drop-down menu in the Organization field. Ensure the text “Identify as: University of Washington” appears below the Organization field. If the text “Unidentified organization” appears instead, you will not be successfully affiliated with the UW.
3. Fill in your current employment information with the University of Washington.

Correct Affiliation

Incorrect Affiliation

How to Add Information to an ORCID Profile

• Personal Information: Review ORCID’s How do I add things to my record? page for information on linking personal information and the basics on adding publications to your record.
• Research Work: For more in-depth guidance on adding publications and other research-related work to an ORCID iD, review ORCID’s Add works to your ORCID record page.
• Funding Information: Learn more about importing or manually adding various types of funding to an ORCID profile on Adding funding information to your ORCID record.
• Additional Guidance: Running into issues? Submit a help ticket to ORCID or contact orishelp@uw.edu.

Resources

If you have questions about creating or maintaining an ORCID iD, review these helpful resources:

• ORCID’s Support Website: Provides assistance with troubleshooting, account setup, linking research, and common questions on ORCID.
• ORCID’s Researcher FAQ: Lists common questions around account creation and access.
• UW’s Health Sciences Library ORCID Overview: Details ORCID iD benefits and links to institutions and publishers using ORCID iDs.
• ORCID Members List: Provides ability to filter by funder, publisher, research institution, and more.
• List of NIH Applications Requiring ORCID IDs: Includes all types of NIH applications that require ORCID iDs.