How to Create an ORCID

Last updated on 2025-03-12 | Edit this page

Overview

Questions

  • How can I create or update my ORCID profile?

Objectives

  • Describe to someone how to create or update an ORCID record

What is an ORCID?

ORCID stands for Open Researcher and Contributor ID. It is a 16-digit unique identifier for scholarly authors. You can think of it as similar to an online curriculum vitae. It can be very helpful for:

  • Disambiguation of authors with similar names
  • Tracking individual author name changes
  • Submissions to journals and grant applications

Creating and maintaining an ORCID record allows you to claim your scholarly online presence. You have the autonomy to list your works, grants, affiliations, etc. On a larger scale, departments may be interested in their faculty having well maintained records to aid in tracking of scholarly output. ORCID has an integration with many different tools online which we will cover in the next episodes. By curating the ORCID record, researchers can save time later with these integrations that will auto-populate other things they need.

ORCID is a nonprofit organization with member institutions from all over the world. You do not need to belong to a member institution to set up an ORCID for yourself, and individual ORCID records can be created and maintained at no charge.

ORCID and Funders

Funders are increasingly requiring ORCID IDs be submitted as part of grant proposal packages. Do you know of any funding agencies or foundations already requiring this? Do you know when the requirement took effect?

  • January 2023: National Science Foundation (United States)
  • May 2025: National Institutes of Health (United States)

Steps to Create an ORCID

  1. Go to the ORCID homepage: https://orcid.org/
  2. Click on “Sign in / Register” in the top right corner
  3. If you already have an ORCID record, try signing in
  4. If you do not have an ORCID record, click “Register now”.
  5. Add a backup email to your account so you can always retrieve your account

“ACCOUNT ALREADY EXISTS” Message

If an account with your name already exists, you may see a window pop up asking if it is you. If so, follow the prompts to retrieve this account.

Linking to your ORCID record

You have created your ORCID record!

Place a hyperlink to your record in a few of the following places:

  • CV header
  • Email signature
  • Social media bio
  • Personal/institutional webpage
  • Any current works in progress (scholarly papers, posters, presentations)

CAUTION

If you have duplicate records, you can contact ORCID directly and let them know which record should be closed.

Visibility Settings

In your account settings, there is a section called “Visibility”. You can select the default for new items added to your ORCID record. We recommend selecting “Everyone”. ORCID is most helpful to you and other users when it is populated for everyone to read. While populating your profile, you will notice that you can change the visibility of each individual item on your record. For example. You can make one of your emails public, while making your back up email viewable to “only me”.

Populating your record

While logged into your profile:

  • Edit the “Names” box to add your preferred “Published name”, as well as some “Also known as” names to help people find your record.

  • Add your affiliations:

    • Add current employment to make it easier for people to identify your record from the ORCID search results page. Adding past employment could be helpful as well.
    • Consider if some of your affiliations should go under “Education and Qualifications”

  • Try adding a few of your works

    • Enter any type of scholarly product you have authored (posters, conference talks, articles, research tools, etc.)
    • Utilize the uploading tools to populate for you, like “Add DOI” or “Add PubMed ID”
    • In the future, submitting works with your ORCID to the publisher will autopopulate your page when the work is published.

Key Points

  • ORCID is an open, non-propietary system for claiming your scholarly online presence.
  • Use these steps to set up an ORCID to be usable and helpful to others.