ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) [1] is a non-profit organisation, which provides unique identifiers (ORCID iDs) for authors. These IDs are utilized for author identification by many ORCID members [2] – including research organisations, publishers, funders and professional associations.

ORCID iD

The ORCID iD is a persistent identifier for individuals. It contains 16 digits grouped in blocks of four. As part of a web address it refers to a person's ORCID record, in which further data can be stored – permanently and affiliation independently – such as:

• name variants in order to make name changes due to marriage or different spellings of a name transparent
• addresses of websites and blogs
• links to other identification management services and author profiles (e.g. Google Scholar Profil [3], ISNI [4], ResearcherID [5]).

For more information on the relevance of author profiles and how to create and maintain them please consult the university library's info sheet "Academic Identity Management" [6].