ORCID: Who Qualifies and What You Get
Learn how ORCID provides a permanent digital identifier to help researchers manage their professional identity and track their work globally.
ORCID provides a unique, permanent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher. This identifier acts as a digital anchor for your professional identity, ensuring that your contributions to the global research community are always linked to you.
Who it's for
This scheme is designed for all researchers. Whether you are an academic, a clinician, or a scientist working in a lab, if you produce research, this identifier is intended for you. It is a global tool meant to support anyone engaged in the research enterprise, regardless of their specific field of study or their geographic location.
What you get
You receive a persistent digital identifier that stays with you throughout your entire research career. This is particularly useful if you change your name, move to a different institution, or work across multiple countries. By having a single, stable digital ID, you can ensure that your professional history and all your scholarly outputs remain connected to your specific identity. This prevents confusion between researchers with similar or identical names and ensures that your work is correctly attributed to you in global databases.
What it costs you
It is free to register for an account. There are no fees required to create your digital identifier or to begin building your professional profile.
The catch to know
The system does not automatically track every piece of work you produce. To ensure your profile remains an accurate reflection of your career, you must manually link your publications and other professional achievements to your profile. Keeping your record up to date requires active management on your part to ensure that all your research contributions are correctly captured.
How to apply
- Go to the official ORCID portal.
- Complete the registration process to create your unique digital identifier.
- Log in to your new account to begin managing your professional profile.
- Manually add your various publications and research achievements to keep your record current.