Biophysical Newsletter - August 2014

13

BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

2014

AUGUST

ORCID: The One and Only You In the July newsletter we announced that the Bio- physical Journal was collecting ORCID identifiers through the manuscript submission system. But, what exactly is ORCID and why should you have an ORCID identifier? ORCID stands for Open Researcher and Contrib- utor ID and consists of a 16-digit unique digital identifier that distinguishes each researcher. It has been likened to a social security number and a bar code for investigators, both of which are apt de- scriptors. It is what an ISSN number is to journals or a DOI is to an online article. A primary aim of ORCID is to ensure that researchers are associated with and recognized for their work throughout their career. Imagine if your name is J. Smith, Y. Zhang, or J. Gonzalez. You are applying for grants and publishing papers along with many other people named J. Smith, Y. Zhang, or J. Gonzalez. Even if your name is not common, it can change (through marriage), have a unique name order (in certain cultures), or be scattered throughout the literature with inconsistent use of first-name abbreviations. The ORCID system attributes research outputs to their true author through the use of a unique identifier and supports linkages among all of a researcher’s professional activities. In addition to name recognition and attribution, ORCID supports integrated workflow systems

whereby instead of filling out personal details on electronic forms associated with submitting papers or applying for grants, a researcher could also simply type in his or her ORCID number. Various fields would be completed automatically by pulling in data from other authorized sources, such as databases of papers, citations, grants, and contact details. Right now, ORCID maintains the registry of unique identifiers and has been rolling out new features regularly since its launch in October 2012. For this to be effective, members of the research community need to participate, and BPS encour- ages all of you in the biophysics research commu- nity to obtain an ORCID identifier. It’s free and it takes only a short amount of time. To register, researchers can visit the ORCID web- site, orcid.org. There, you can create a complete online record of your research and publications. You can also register when submitting your next manuscript to Biophysical Journal or when pro- viding an article review (the system will walk you through the steps). ORCID can be used by edi- tors, funding agencies, publishers, and institutions as a linking identifier throughout the entire chain of the scholarly communication process to allow reliable attribution of research and all intellectual property outputs. By offering this service through the BJ submission system, we hope to make it easy for authors, editors, and reviewers to register for an ORCID identifier if they do not already have one.