By now it’s likely that everyone’s heard of ORCID IDs, whether or not you’ve chosen to create one. While I can sing the praises of ORCID over and over again, I think for ORCID the proof is in the pudding (as they say).
I contacted 7 ECS authors with pristine ORCID records and asked them a few questions about the usefulness, maintenance required, and learning curve.
Dr. Sigita Trabesinger
orcid.org/0000-0001-5878-300X
Mr. Anthony Wood
orcid.org/0000-0002-5952-8083
Prof. Xianhua Liu
orcid.org/0000-0001-5496-3011
Dr. Ji-Won Son
orcid.org/0000-0002-5310-0633
Prof. Naoaki Yabuuchi
orcid.org/0000-0002-9404-5693
Dr. Shelley Minteer
orcid.org/0000-0002-5788-2249
Dr. Adam Weber
orcid.org/0000-0002-7749-1624
- How did you find out about ORCID?
- In some manuscript submission systems, such as ECS, Elsevier EES and PLOS, there are links to ORCID.
- It started showing up as an option to link on journal submission websites and I didn’t really understand it, so I went to their website.
- From colleagues.
- Why did you decide to register for an ORCID ID?
- I looked at it and it seemed to be a solid database with good and convenient interface, offering this information for a range of institutions. It gave and still gives a reliable impression. Some other similar databanks, such as ResearchGate or Academia.edu, are overdone and offer some kind of ratings instead of fact, and the rating criteria are not very simple or even transparent.
- Integrated organization of my research record was the main motivation to register.
- ORCID makes it easier to have my papers tracked and related to me.
- What uses have you found for your ORCID ID/ORCID record?
- It is easy to use ORCID as an identifier (not that I have a real problem with my strange name, however, it might help many other people with more generic set of names) when applying for funding or registering at publishers. Also when applying for grants at grant agencies, it simplifies the process.
- It’s very useful to keep track of my publications, and to quickly link them for proposals and submitting journal articles. It would also be useful for resume updates.
- Manage my information across multiple submission systems. CV.
- If my ORCID ID is registered in the journals, my publication list is updated automatically and instantly.
- It is easy to show my research achievements to someone else.
- How much time do you spend maintaining your ORCID record?
- Very little time once it is setup, since you just look up your papers online and link the reference.
- Initiating the account requires a certain amount of time because you have to input your basic information. After the account is generated, minimum time is required to maintain the record because the record is updated automatically. All I need to do is to confirm if any change occurs.
- Almost no time. The record gets update automatically and I get an email saying that new papers have been found.
- Almost none.
- 3 minutes per year.
- Does any of the information on your ORCID update automatically? Was it difficult to set this up?
- Yes, most of the information is updated automatically. I look through to see if it all is correct once every 3-4 months. Also if there are new papers added I get a notification, which is convenient. Set up takes a bit of time and might take more for people with more generic names, however, it saves you a lot of time year after year.
- Works (publication list) is updated automatically when my ORCID ID is registered in the journals. It’s not difficult to set up at all.
- In general, automatic and manual update is not difficult. In my case, the data was imported from my ResearcherID.
- Is there anything that you would like to say about ORCID that you have not included above?
- I think the key points are the ease of use, ability to link all of your publications into online journals such as JECS just by displaying the authors ORCID ID and that it saves time as a search tool. For example, when you look at a paper from a researcher in an area of interest and you want to know what else they have been working on in the field, the ORCID record provides all of the publications and you know they are from the same researcher, not just someone with a similar name. As an industrial research scientist this is very useful for keeping track of other groups working in your field and to select partners for collaboration.
While it’s clear that each of our authors finds different uses for their ORCID ID, they all agree that it’s easy to set up and requires very little maintenance. ORCID isn’t just for authors with common names – it’s a means of streamlining submission processes, compiling your academic achievements, and finding other researchers for collaboration.
Still not convinced? Check out our other posts about ORCID here.
P.S. It’s possible that you made an ORCID ID and never linked it to your ECSxPress account. Next time you log in be sure to update your profile and add your ID so that your ORCID record can begin automatically updating with your next publication!
