UW Research

October 6, 2023

Important ORCID iD Information & Next Steps

The following email was sent by Mari Ostendorf, Vice Provost for Research, on Thursday, October 6, to University of Washington faculty and non-faculty researchers to encourage the adoption of ORCID iDs.

Today, I am writing to strongly encourage you to register for an Open Researcher and Contributor iD (ORCID), a unique digital identifier that helps link researchers to their grants, publications, and other research-related work.

ORCID iD Overview & Benefits

ORCID iDs provide a persistent digital identifier that is unique to individuals and distinguishes researchers from one another. Researchers can connect their ORCID iD to affiliations, grants, publications, peer reviews, and many other systems.

Increasingly, institutions such as the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are requiring ORCID iDs for certain applications; many journals and other publications are requiring ORCID iDs during the submission process. Furthermore, iDs assist in distinguishing researchers with similar names from one another while also making it easier to track an individual’s research and publication history over time. This also makes information sharing across different organizations’ systems easier and more accurate.

For more information on ORCID iD and its benefits, refer to the Research Website’s ORCID iD page.

Next Steps

Depending on your current ORCID iD status, you may receive one of the following emails next week:

  • If you have already registered for an ORCID iD: Many faculty members have already registered for ORCID iDs but have not successfully affiliated their profiles with the University of Washington. Through working with ORCID, we have identified University faculty who need to update their profile affiliation.
    • If you have a profile but it is not affiliated with the UW, you will receive an email next week with a unique link (member-portal.orcid.org/landing-page?state=XXXX) to update your profile’s affiliation. You will be asked to grant the UW permission to edit your affiliation.
    • If you are successfully affiliated with the University, you will not receive an email.
  • If you have not already registered for an ORCID iD: You will receive an email outlining the registration process and encouraging your participation. To begin the process on your own, visit ORCID’s Researcher FAQ for information and a link to register.

Again, we strongly encourage adopting an ORCID iD. If you have any questions about ORCID iDs, please email orishelp@uw.edu. Thank you for your continued innovation and dedication to the University of Washington research community.

Sincerely,

Mari Ostendorf