The UK's Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) has announced that it joins organisations from across the UK higher education network to welcome the launch of the Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID).
It has been observed that there are more academic articles being published than ever before and more authors working together. In order to be able to identify an author correctly a unique identifier is needed that can then link to each author's publications.
ORCID is said to provide this link. If widely used, it would ensure researchers get credit for their own work, and researchers and learners looking for information will be able to find academic papers more accurately. It is also seen to enable better management of researcher publication records, making it easier for them to create CVs, reduce form filling and improve reporting to funders. ORCID is also expected to create a means of linking information between institutions and systems internationally, and enable researchers to keep track of their own work with funders, publishers and institutions around the world.
It additionally provides researchers with their own ORCID. Researchers are able to control how much information it holds about them and who that is shared with. The adoption of ORCID is stated to be a solution to the current challenges of being able to search for work accurately. By researchers volunteering to adopt its usage it could improve discoverability and accurate referencing, it is hoped.
