ORCIDORCID is a nonproprietary persistent identifier system that assigns unique alphanumeric codes to researchers and contributors in scholarly communication. With over 20 million registered users and integration into publisher workflows, funding agencies, and institutional repositories worldwide, ORCID has become the standard means of disambiguating individual researchers across the global research ecosystem.
Background
The problem of author name ambiguity in scholarly publishing — where multiple researchers share the same name, names change through marriage, or transliteration varies across writing systems — motivated the creation of ORCID. First announced in 2009 as a collaborative effort among scholarly publishers, ORCID Inc. was incorporated as an independent nonprofit in Delaware, USA, in August 2010. A prototype was developed using software adapted from Thomson Reuters' ResearcherID system, which granted ORCID a perpetual royalty-free license to its code. The registry launched on 16 October 2012, and growth was rapid: one million registrations by November 2014, ten million by November 2020, and over 14.7 million by August 2022.
Purpose & Scope
ORCID provides each registrant with a 16-digit identifier displayed as a URL (e.g., https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097). The identifier is a subset of the International Standard Name Identifier (ISNI) under ISO 27729, with a reserved block in the ISNI range. The final digit is a MOD 11-2 check digit conforming to ISO/IEC 7064:2003, and may be the letter "X" representing the value 10. Each ORCID record serves as a digital curriculum vitae that the researcher controls, listing publications, grants, affiliations, and peer review activities.
Key Components
| Component | Description |
|---|---|
| ORCID iD | 16-digit persistent identifier in URL form |
| ORCID Record | Researcher-controlled profile with works, affiliations, funding |
| Public API | Free read-only access to public ORCID data |
| Member API | Enhanced access for institutional integrations |
| Auto-update | Crossref and DataCite automatically update ORCID records when DOIs include ORCID iDs |
Serializations & Technical Formats
ORCID data can be retrieved in multiple formats including RDF/XML, RDF Turtle, XML, and JSON through the public API. The system uses HTTPS as the canonical URL scheme (since November 2017). ORCID uses GitHub as its code repository for its open-source components.
Governance & Maintenance
ORCID Inc. is an independent nonprofit organization governed by an international board of directors. Membership is open to research institutions, publishers, funding agencies, and other stakeholders, with over 1,258 member organizations as of 2022. The executive director as of September 2020 is Chris Shillum, succeeding founding director Laurel Haak. The organization is funded through membership fees and sustains its registry as a free service for individual researchers.
Notable Implementations
ORCID is integrated into workflows at major publishers including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley, and PLOS. Funding bodies such as the Wellcome Trust mandate ORCID identifiers on grant applications. National implementation consortia operate in Italy (under CRUI and ANVUR), Australia (NHMRC and ARC endorsement), and France (HAL repository integration). Both Wikipedia and Wikidata include ORCID identifiers through property P496. Crossref and DataCite auto-update ORCID records when new DOIs are registered with embedded ORCID iDs.
Related Standards
- ROR — Research Organization Registry, the analogous persistent identifier system for institutions
- DOI — Digital Object Identifier for research outputs, frequently linked to ORCID records
- VIAF — Virtual International Authority File, another approach to name disambiguation in the library world