An Orcid id is a unique and persistent number that is applied to a researcher and will look something like this 0000-0001-7431-1694. Think of it as a PPS number or a digital barcode for a researcher. The need for such an identifier arises because it is difficult to accumulate citations around a particular name if that author has used different versions of his/her name or has moved between institutions. Is an author who has used the name Joe Blogs, J. Blogs, Joe A Blogs, and J.A Blogs and so on, the same person? Is Joe Blogs who works at the University of Life, the same Joe Blogs who previously worked at the University of Dreams? Applying a unique identifier to Joe Blogs in the first place means that none of these name variants count as the computer software that accumulates citations will recognise that they are all the same person even when the researcher changes institution.
This is a free service for the individual and it is a very simple matter to register for an Orcid ID by simply filling out a form and acquiring a password. This will give you your Orcid ID. Since the purpose of the Orcid ID is to accumulate your publications under your name it is important that you populate it with your publications list. You can also add in your educational and professional details as anyone can search Orcid ID by a name and it is a good way of making your publications listing readily available. You can manually add your publications listing but a quicker way is to upload your publications from Scopus and then manually add publications that are missing. Then it is important that you put your Orcid ID on everything you publish/produce such as articles, datasets, reports, media stories, citations, experiments, patents, and notebooks.
To find out the various ways you can populate your orcid record click here.
Publishers who require an Orcid ID for publication
The American Geophysical Union (AGU), eLife, EMBO, Hindawi, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), PLOS (Public Library of Science) and the Royal Society will require authors to use an Orcid Identifier during the publication process. The use of an Orcid ID is rapidly becoming the norm for connecting databases and workflows, grant applications, publishing systems and institutional research information systems. More than 1.8 million researchers have registered for an Orcid ID.