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What is an ORCID iD?

The ORCID iD is a free, unique, 16-digit, persistent identifier (PID) (e.g., 000-0002-3843-3472) for individuals to use as they engage in research, scholarship, and innovation activities. Unlike other research identifiers, ORCID is open source, open access, and easily links to other research workflows.

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a global, not-for-profit organization sustained by fees from member institutions, including York University. ORCID strives to increase transparency and connection among researchers by providing a unique, persistent identifier called the ORCID iD.

Why get an ORCID iD?

Name disambiguation

Distinguish yourself and claim credit for your work while controlling access to your data, no matter how many people have your same (or similar) name.

An author search in Scopus identifies over 22,000 authors with a last name of "Scott" and 675,000 authors with a last name of "Zhang". ORCID helps to bridge your profile fragments across platforms.

Reduced administrative burden

Experience greater ease as an increasing number of manuscript submissions or grant application forms can be auto-populated when you log into their systems with your ORCID, like NIH Biosketch,  ScienCVPortuguese FCT, and OJS.

Customizable visibility

ORCID links all your research together, while you control the visibility of each piece of data.

Reliably connects you to York University and other institutional affiliations and makes your work more discoverable.

Transparency, Security and Control

Individual control is a core principle of the ORCID Trust program: you control what information is added to and deleted from your ORCID record, with fine-grained control over the visibility of the information, and control over which trusted organizations and trusted individuals can access your record to read, write, or update your information.

Name flexibility

The ORCID iD connects you to all your scholarly work regardless of how your name appears on articles and other works.

ORCID helps reduce the negative consequences of name changes so you will no longer be limited to the name you used when you began your career.

Portable profile data

Easily share your data between your record and an increasing number of funding, publications, data repositories, and other research workflows.

How do I register for an ORCID-iD?

Register for your free ORCID iD in under 30 seconds through the ORCID Registration page.  Read more about Getting Started with Your ORCID Record.

You have full control of the information shared in your ORCID profile. Learn more about adjusting privacy settings through ORCID's Visibility Settings page.

What can I add to my ORCID profile?

It is good practice to add some basic information to your profile to help distinguish yourself from other researchers with the same name. Some options include:

  • Your institutional affiliation (e.g., York University)
  • Your education
  • Other researcher id's (e.g., Scopus Author ID)
  • Author biography

Update your ORCID profile

  1. Sign in to your ORCID profile.
  2. Add and update your institutional and professional affiliations (e.g., "York University") in the "Employment" section to help distinguish you from other researchers who share the same name.
  3. Add other versions of your name. Click on the pencil icon next to "Names" to edit the name you registered with. In "also known as," enter other names you have used or prefer to use.
  4. Link your publications in the "Works" section. Import your works automatically using "Search & Link" or add them manually. Learn more about adding works to your ORCID.