ORCID iD: Passport to Claiming All Your Research Outputs in One Place

ORCID iDs are unique and persistent identifiers specifically for researchers and scholars. With an ORCID iD, researchers can identify what activities/works are theirs, regardless of how their names are expressed. ORCID is a non-profit organisation that allows users to decide what to connect to it, who they allow to read and/or update their record, and which information is made publicly available, shared with trusted parties, or kept completely private. ORCID iDs are used internationally by many institutions, including publishers, repositories, professional associations, universities, funders and research organisations.

As part of NTU’s ORCID campaign, NIE Library organised a one-hour ORCID sharing session for the NIE academic staff on 19 February 2020. The attendees were given an overview of the benefits of an ORCID iD and how the identifier can help increase the researcher’s academic visibility. The participants were shown how to create an ORCID id and add NTU as a trusted organisation. In addition, they were taught how to populate works in their ORCID record from Google Scholar, ResearcherID (via Publons) and Scopus.

We caught up with one participant, Dr Sandra Wu from Policy, Curriculum and Leadership (PCL) to give us a few quick thoughts about ORCID.

1. When did you first hear about ORCID?

I first knew about ORCID when one of the journals requested for my ORCID iD to link to the book chapter published. That was when I realised that having an ORCID account allows us to link our iD to the publication.

2. Could you tell us about your experience of using ORCID so far?

As an early career researcher, I was very new to ORCID. Although I had set up my ORCID profile previously, I had not used it much. When we were alerted about authorizing NTU and had to update the works in ORCID, I signed up for the sharing session organised by NIE library to find out more about ORCID. I was grateful that the librarian went through the specifics on how I can use ORCID and also shared on the best practices of how to efficiently and effectively update our ORCID record.

3. What do you think is the most important benefit ORCID provides to researchers?

It enables academics to create a portfolio of their work that is discoverable by others. ORCID creates an opportunity to connect with fellow academics in the field and reach out to them for collaborative work. The unique ORCID iD can also be shared on social networking platforms to create possibilities for researchers to work together.

4. What is the key takeaway for you from the ORCID sharing session?

One of the key takeaways that I have gained from the session is to regularly update my ORCID account. As a beginning academic, this is a useful platform for me to compile my publications and build up my portfolio.

For those of you who have missed the ORCID session on 19 Feb, you can access the presentation slides here.

To add works from Google Scholar, ResearcherID and Scopus, you can refer to our Libguide. For frequently asked questions on ORCID, you may wish to access our LibFAQs.

If you have questions or need help with populating works to your ORCID record, please email us at libris@nie.edu.sg

Wong Yong Yeow