orcid.org

An ORCID record can hold six main categories of information: personal details, education and qualifications, employment, funding, works (publications and other outputs), and peer review activity. You can add each item manually, import it from an external system, or let a trusted organization write it on your behalf — and you control the visibility of every item individually.

The core sections of an ORCID record

ORCID organizes record content into a fixed set of sections. Here is what each one is for:

Each section is a list, so you can add multiple entries and keep historical affiliations rather than overwriting old ones.

How items get into your record

There are three routes, and they can be mixed freely:

• Manual entry. You type the details into the record yourself. Useful for older positions, unpublished outputs, or anything no system will push for you.
• Import from another system. You can search external sources (for example, publication databases) and pull matching items into your record, then confirm them.
• Automatic updates from trusted organizations. When you grant an organization permission, it can add or update items directly — for example, a publisher depositing a new article, or an institution asserting your employment.

The practical difference matters: manually added items are yours to edit, while items written by a trusted organization are maintained by that organization and may not be editable by you in the same way. If something looks wrong in an auto-added item, the fix usually starts with the organization that wrote it.

Visibility: who sees each item

Every item has its own visibility setting, so you do not have to make an all-or-nothing choice:

• Public — visible to anyone viewing your record.
• Trusted parties — visible only to organizations you have authorized.
• Only me — private to you.

A common pattern is to keep employment and works public while restricting email addresses or an in-progress affiliation. Changing visibility later does not delete the item; it only changes who can see it.

Keeping the record accurate

A record stays useful when it reflects your current situation. A few habits help:

1. Add a new entry instead of editing an old one when your role changes, so the history stays intact.
2. Check auto-added items after a new publication or a change of institution, since these arrive without your direct action.
3. Review your visibility settings when you start sharing your iD more widely, for example on a manuscript or a grant application.
4. Use your iD consistently across systems so that imports and assertions land in the right record.

If you are deciding what to include, the test is simple: anything that helps someone identify your work and affiliations belongs there, and anything you would rather not disclose can be added with restricted visibility or left out entirely.

ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a persistent digital identifier system for researchers and scholars. It gives each person a unique 16-character iD that distinguishes them from every other researcher, even if they share the same name or publish under different name variants. Registration is free, and the iD can be linked to publications, datasets, affiliations, and other scholarly records across systems.

The problem ORCID solves

Academic databases, publishers, and funders all need to know which "J. Smith" wrote a given paper. Common names, name changes, transliteration differences, and inconsistent formatting make author disambiguation a persistent headache. ORCID addresses this by assigning a stable identifier that travels with the researcher across platforms.

Key consequences:

• Name ambiguity disappears. Two researchers named "Li Wei" have two different ORCID iDs.
• Identity persists across name changes. A researcher who marries, changes legal name, or alters transliteration keeps the same iD.
• Records connect automatically. When a publisher, repository, or funder collects your ORCID iD, your works can flow into your ORCID record without manual re-entry.

What an ORCID iD looks like

An ORCID iD is a 16-digit number formatted as four groups of four, for example: 0000-0002-1825-0097. The final character may be an "X" (a checksum value). It is expressed as a URI: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1825-0097.

The iD itself is opaque — it carries no meaning about the person. All descriptive information (name, affiliations, works) lives in the associated ORCID record, which the researcher controls.

What you can link to an ORCID record

You can add records manually, import them from trusted sources (Crossref, DataCite, Scopus, institutional systems), or let authorized systems write to your record automatically.

Who runs ORCID

ORCID is an independent, non-profit organization governed by a board and supported by member organizations — including publishers, funders, universities, and research institutions. It is not owned by any single commercial entity. The registry is community-governed and the iD is designed to be interoperable across the scholarly ecosystem.

When ORCID is useful — and when it isn't

Useful when:

• You publish under a common name or have published under multiple name variants.
• You want your works to aggregate automatically across publishers and repositories.
• A journal, funder, or institution asks for an ORCID iD during submission or reporting.
• You want a single public profile that links your outputs.

Not a replacement for:

• A CV or institutional profile page (ORCID is a record, not a narrative).
• A bibliometric database (it does not compute citation counts or h-index).
• Authentication for every system (it is an identifier, not a universal login).

Getting started

1. Go to orcid.org and register with your name and email.
2. You receive a 16-character iD immediately.
3. Set your record visibility (public, trusted parties, or private) for each item.
4. Add works and affiliations manually or via import wizards.
5. Use your iD wherever publishers, funders, or repositories request it.

The registration and basic record are free. Some institutions and publishers integrate ORCID into their own systems, so you may be prompted to connect an existing iD rather than create a new one.

An ORCID iD is a free, persistent identifier you own and control, issued by a non-profit organization rather than by a publisher or database. That ownership model is the main difference: Scopus IDs, ResearcherID (now part of Publons/Web of Science), and Google Scholar profiles all live inside a specific commercial platform, while an ORCID iD is designed to travel with you across systems. If you publish, apply for grants, or want your name variants consolidated in one place, an ORCID iD is the identifier most journals and funders expect you to supply.

The core distinction: who controls the identifier

An ORCID iD is not owned by any single publisher. You register it yourself, and you decide what connects to it. The others are typically assigned or created within a database, and their usefulness depends on that database's coverage.

Why portability matters in practice

Because ORCID is platform-independent, it can act as a hub. A single ORCID iD can link out to your Scopus Author ID, ResearcherID, and other external identifiers, so a reader or system starting from ORCID can find the rest. This is the interoperability point: journals, funders, and institutional repositories increasingly ask for an ORCID iD at submission or reporting time, and they can authenticate it rather than re-keying your data.

By contrast, a Scopus Author ID only resolves inside Scopus, and a Google Scholar profile only exists on Google. Neither is intended to be the shared identifier a funder uses to disambiguate you across grant systems.

How to decide whether you need one

• Register an ORCID iD if you submit to journals or funders that request it, you have a common name, your name has changed, or you want one stable ID linking your outputs across platforms.
• You may not need one immediately if you only read literature and never publish, apply for funding, or deposit work in a repository.
• Keep your other IDs anyway. ORCID complements Scopus IDs, ResearcherID, and Scholar profiles rather than replacing them; link them from your ORCID record so each remains discoverable.

Practical notes

Registration and use of an ORCID iD are free, and the identifier is yours to maintain. The main task after registering is keeping the record accurate: add works, confirm affiliations, and connect external identifiers so the hub function actually works. Note that the ORCID site requires JavaScript to function, so enable it if the application does not load.

ORCID gives you item-by-item control over who can see each piece of your record. Every entry you add — employment, education, funding, works, peer review, and your name variants — carries its own visibility setting, and you can change that setting at any time. The practical consequence: you can keep a public professional profile while hiding specific items, and you can decide which organizations are allowed to write to your record at all. This page explains the visibility levels, how trusted organizations get update access, and what "public" actually means once data leaves ORCID.

The three visibility settings

ORCID applies one of three visibility values to each item in your record:

Two things are worth separating here. The visibility of an item is independent of the visibility of your record as a whole — there is no single "make my profile private" switch that overrides everything. And visibility is not the same as permission to edit: an organization with write access can add or update items, but it cannot see items you have set to "only me."

Who can add or update items in your record

ORCID distinguishes between reading your record and writing to it.

• Trusted organizations. When you connect an institution, publisher, funder, or repository to your iD, you grant it permission to read and/or update specific sections. You see and approve this authorization, and you can revoke it later from your account settings.
• You. You can always add, edit, and delete items yourself, and you can change any item's visibility.
• Everyone else. Other systems can read only the items you have marked public.

A common point of confusion: an organization that has write access can add an item, but you still control whether that item is public, trusted, or private. If you don't want an auto-added affiliation visible, change its visibility rather than disconnecting the organization — though disconnecting is also available if you want to stop future updates.

What "public" means in practice

Public items are readable by anyone and by systems that consume ORCID data, such as publisher submission systems, funder reporting tools, and institutional profile pages. That is usually the point: a public works list lets a journal or repository auto-fill your details and lets your output be attributed to you rather than to a namesake.

The trade-off is that public data can be copied, displayed, and reused by third parties outside ORCID's interface. ORCID does not sell personal data, but it cannot control how a downstream system presents or stores data it has legitimately read. If an item is sensitive — a home address, an unpublished project, an internal grant number — the safer choice is "trusted parties" or "only me."

Deciding what to make public

A workable default for most researchers:

1. Keep your name, iD, and current affiliation public so collaborators and systems can find and match you.
2. Keep works public if you want them indexed and auto-filled into submissions.
3. Set anything you are still verifying, or anything tied to an internal identifier, to trusted parties or only me.
4. Review the connected organizations list periodically and revoke access you no longer need.

If your goal is discoverability, err toward public. If your goal is a controlled internal record, use the narrower settings and grant write access only to organizations you actually work with.

You can register for an ORCID iD directly at orcid.org by creating an account with your name, email address, and a password. Registration is free, and once you verify your email you receive a unique 16-digit identifier that stays with you throughout your research career. This guide covers the full process, from opening the registration form to confirming your iD and adjusting your visibility settings.

Before You Start

Have the following ready:

• A working email address you can access immediately (you will need it to verify the account).
• Your name as you want it displayed on your record.
• A password that meets ORCID's requirements.

No institutional affiliation or payment is required to register. ORCID is designed for individual researchers, and the iD is yours regardless of where you work or move.

Step-by-Step Registration

1. Open the registration form

Go to orcid.org and choose the option to register for an iD. The site is a JavaScript application, so if the page appears blank or shows a message asking you to enable JavaScript, turn JavaScript on in your browser and reload.

2. Enter your name

Provide your given name and family name. This is the name that will appear on your ORCID record, so use the form you want cited and searchable. You can add variations or other names later.

3. Add your email address

Enter the email you want associated with the account. ORCID uses this for account verification and for notifications. If you plan to link your iD to an institution or publisher later, using your institutional email can make that matching easier, but any address you control works.

4. Create a password

Choose a password and confirm it. Follow the on-screen rules for length and character requirements. Store it somewhere secure — your ORCID iD is permanent, but you will need the password to sign in and edit your record.

5. Set your visibility preferences

During registration you choose default visibility for the information on your record. The common options are:

You can change visibility per item later, so the choice at registration is just a default, not a permanent lock.

6. Accept the terms and submit

Review the terms of use and confirm the registration. Submitting creates your account and generates your ORCID iD.

7. Verify your email

ORCID sends a verification message to the address you entered. Open it and follow the link to confirm the address. Until you verify, some features and notifications may be limited. If the email does not arrive, check your spam folder and request a new verification message.

What You Get

After verification you have a 16-digit ORCID iD, formatted as four groups of four digits (for example, 0000-0002-1825-0097). This identifier:

• Is unique to you and is not reassigned.
• Can be used on publications, grant applications, and profile pages.
• Links to a record you control, where you can add education, employment, and works.

After Registration: Basic Setup

Registration gives you the iD; the record becomes useful as you fill it in. Common next steps:

1. Add employment and education — list your current and past positions and degrees.
2. Add works — import publications from sources like Crossref or add them manually.
3. Connect other identifiers — link related IDs such as Scopus or ResearcherID where supported.
4. Review visibility — set each item to public, limited, or private depending on what you want shared.

Common Snags

• Blank page or JavaScript message — the application requires JavaScript; enable it or try a different browser.
• No verification email — check spam, confirm you typed the address correctly, and resend.
• Unsure which email to use — any address you control works; institutional email can simplify later linking.
• Worried about cost — registering and maintaining an ORCID iD does not require payment.

Deciding Whether to Register

Register if you publish, apply for grants, or need a stable identifier that distinguishes you from researchers with similar names. You do not need an ORCID iD to read about ORCID or to browse records, but you need one to maintain your own record and to attach it to your outputs. If you already have other researcher identifiers, an ORCID iD can coexist with them and be linked, rather than replacing them.