Intro
This guide will go over how you can make your research and publications more accessible and reduce ambiguity between you and others. It will also compare four researcher/ author identifiers, plus provide a brief introduction to funding and other web profiles to consider.
Identity Tools
There are a variety of options for creating a unique identity:
- ORCID
- Web of Science Researcher Profiles (ResearcherID)
- Scopus Author Profile
- Google Scholar Citations profile
Learn more about some of these options by clicking on their names to the left.
Comparison
|
Feature |
ResearcherID |
ORCID |
Scopus Author ID |
Google Scholar Citations |
|
Persistent ID |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
|
User profile |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Publication list |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
|
Citation metrics |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
Yes |
|
User privacy controls |
Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
|
Facilitates networking |
Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
|
Integrates with... |
ORCID |
ResearcherID Scopus Author ID |
ORCID |
- |
Reasons for Managing your Researcher or Author Identity
Researcher profiles and IDs can be used to:
- differentiate your work from the work of other author's with similar names;
- quickly and efficiently locate metrics such as citation counts and your h-index for all your publications;
- promote your research to others
Reduce Author Ambiguity
Many authors have similar names. Author Identifiers distinguish between these names by assigning each author a unique number and grouping together all of the documents written by that author.
This feature is especially useful for distinguishing between authors who share very common names.
Additionally, author names can be formatted differently. For example, the same author could appear in one document as Lewis, M; in another as Lewis, M.J; and in another as Lewis, Michael. Researcher or Author Identifiers match the documents of this author and groups these name variants together so that authors, even if cited differently, are identified with their specific papers.
This helps you find and recognize an author, despite variations in name spelling.
Improve Research Impact
Establishing a unique researcher identity is an important step to improving your research impact. There are a variety of options for creating a unique identity, with ResearcherID, ORCID and Scopus Author Identifier being highly recommended.
Manage Affiliation Changes
As you pursue opportunities at different organisations and institutions around the world throughout your career, you can ensure that all of your research outputs are still attributed correctly to you and that your work can be found by others.
Improve Administrative Efficiency
Institutions, publishers and funders expect to be able to make use of authors' unique identifiers in their workflows, reducing the amount of repetitive biographical information required when you submit your CV or manuscripts for publication, for example.