BC ORCID is Coming

You will soon have a new way to distinguish yourself and your work from all others.

Boston College has become a member of the ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor ID) organization. When you register for an ORCID (a process that takes about one minute), you receive a unique researcher identifier. At Boston College, the Provost’s Office, Information Technology Services and the Libraries are joining forces to provide a new interface for faculty, researchers and students to register for an ID and associate it with their Boston College identity.

One of the primary problems ORCID solves is name ambiguity. Research queries turn up articles by authors of the same name, across a wide variety of disciplines. This issue plagues researchers and university tenure committees alike and the problem increases as interdisciplinary work becomes more common. The ORCID ID is a unique, persistent number that identifies and travels with the researcher through changes in institution. It is not affected by name changes, cultural differences in name order, inconsistent use of initials, or use of different alphabets.

Importing publication data using other system IDs (such as Researcher ID) and databases (such as Scopus) is easy and ORCID tracks 37 types of works – including not just text but datasets, performances and artworks, making it a system that can be used by all disciplines.

This ID will:

• Serve as a unique, persistent identifier for you throughout your career across institutions and disciplines
• Distinguish your work from others’ in the field and give it greater visibility
• Allow you to create a profile that connects all of your scholarly output with your ID, including non-traditional works
• Streamline submissions to publishers and grant funders, who increasingly integrate ORCIDs into their processes and send data to your profile
• Automate annual reporting in systems that offer ORCID integration, such as Data 180
• Give you control over what is made public, private, or available only to trusted parties

The benefits for Boston College include accurate, up-to-date information on scholarly output and the ability to follow the careers of our scholars and graduates.

We hope to roll out this new interface later this Spring. In the coming months, the Boston College Libraries will offer opportunities for you to learn more about ORCID. You will be able to register for an ORCID ID linked to your Boston College credentials, or to link an ORCID you already have.

In the interim, please read more on the Libraries’ ORCID webpage.