As a publisher, Hindawi has committed to ensuring that at least one ORCiD is linked on every article we publish. Why? We believe that the use and promotion of ORCiDs is best practice in scientific research as it helps to provide better transparency within the research community and it aids dissemination. When readers are interested in an article, they will be able to click the ORCiD badge and view other publications by the same authors.
What is ORCiD?
ORCiD is an organization that provides a unique personal identifier for every researcher. Similar to how DOI’s are used to identify articles and books, ORCiDs identify individual researchers. The goal behind this initiative is to ensure that every researcher can be distinguished for the research that they have published.
The ORCiD itself is a 16 digit number which is unique to every researcher that creates an account. Once you make an ORCiD account all of your research contributions are stored on your own page. You will be able to manage your account so you can share as much information about your work as you would like.
Extra information and resources relating to ORCiD can be found on orcid.org.
Why is it necessary?
Having your own ORCiD means that readers won’t get confused with other researchers who have a similar or identical name to you. It is particularly useful if you ever decide to change your name, or if you have a name that can be translated in different ways. Linking your ORCiD account to all of your research means that you are protecting yourself against any potential authorship fraud.
Is it secure?
Whenever you are asked to link your ORCiD via a third party such as a publisher, journal, or institution, you will be taken to the ORCiD login page where you will need to log in with your password. Your ORCiD will not be able to be linked to the third party until you have completed this step. This means that another researcher cannot add your ORCiD to their work, and vice versa. Keep your password safe, and your ORCiD account will be safe too.
You may accidentally set up two ORCiD accounts using different emails. This means that not all of your research contributions are accounted for in one space. You can easily merge any duplicate accounts that you have by following instructions provided by ORCID.
How can it be used?
An ORCID account cumulates all of your academic publications in a concise layout meaning that it’s very good at highlighting your academic achievements. It also works as a really useful tool for:
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Fellow researchers who want to collaborate
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Applying for grants and funding
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Applying for promotion or new researcher opportunities
During your work as a researcher, you may notice certain prompts for linking your ORCiD. This is often the case when you are publishing research. When a publisher or journal prompts you to link your ORCiD it means that when your research is published online it will automatically be added as a contribution on your ORCiD page. Your publication will also show the hyperlinked ORCiD badge next to your name.
More systems and companies are enabling ORCiD linking all the time. So you will also likely see ORCiD linking opportunities in research repositories, funding bodies, and academic institutions.
ORCiD and Hindawi
Why doesn’t Hindawi enforce ORCiDs for all authors on every manuscript? Well, some manuscripts may have 20+ authors from different affiliations, and it could take weeks of communications before all the ORCiDs are linked. This has become especially true since the recent global pandemic where not all authors are able to access their professional email accounts as usual. We believe that withholding scientific research from publication for such an extended period of time is not in the best interests of the scientific community, which is why we only ask for the corresponding authors to link their accounts.
How do I create an ORCiD?
Registering for an ORCiD can take less than a minute to complete. The service is entirely free to use and will act as your lifelong digital identifier for your research.
The use of ORCiDs not only benefits the individual researcher, but it’s also useful for the whole research community. When reading an article we can simply click the authors ID to see what other related research they have published. This inspires research collaborations and helps us to understand where certain avenues of research may be heading in the future. As a publisher, Hindawi is dedicated to supporting the scientific research community and we remain a proud advocate for ORCiDs.
Register for an ORCiD>>
This blog post is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC-BY). The illustration is by Hindawi and is also CC-BY.