The ORCID iD is a permanent digital identifier that uniquely identifies a researcher and distinguishes them from all other researchers. The ORCID iD can be linked to academic information and one's research performance—affiliations, publications, research funding, research projects, peer review, memberships, grants, and more. Using ORCID iD, information can be shared with other systems to establish authority and visibility.

The ORCID iD has established itself as the de-facto international standard of a persistent identifier for the unique identification of researchers. It enables the precise assignment of individual research performance by research institutions and funding bodies as well as by publishers and in publication systems. Additionally, an ORCID iD can be used to reliably distinguish between individual researchers who have the same name as another person, who have changed their name, or who have changed institutions. In the associated profile, the so-called ORCID Record, researchers can provide extensive information regarding their research achievements and academic activities and link other academic profiles and websites. Registration and use of an ORCID iD are free of charge and researchers retain full control over the data.

Why an ORCID iD?

1. Uniqueness! There are so many scientists worldwide that not everyone can be clearly identified by name alone. This is particularly well known to those whose names are shared by other people or who have changed their names before. It is also difficult for computers to distinguish between people based on their names alone; hence, misidentifications in databases and other systems occur very frequently and lead to various negative consequences. An ORCID iD provides a remedy for this—for the scientists themselves as well as for the many other actors in science.
2. Save time! Import publication data from your own literature management system and from many different online sources and have new publications added automatically in the future when they appear. Data can also be added and maintained by your institution or by someone else on your behalf if you allow this. Additionally, there are more and more systems in which information about you can be automatically transferred when you enter your ORCID iD, for example in proposal submissions or profile pages of institutions. The constant manual entry of publication data in various places can thus become a thing of the past—in keeping with ORCID's motto “Enter once, reuse often!”
3. Adaptability! Are you changing institutions or changing your name? This is no problem for ORCID iD. Since it is not bound to an institution (like a profile page at your institute, for example), you always take the ORCID iD with you in your scientific career. If you move to a new institution, you can enter your new affiliation as well as your previous jobs and affiliations. Changing your name is no problem either, as you can change your name and include previous names as important additional information; this way, research achievements made under the old name can also be clearly attributed.
4. Visibility! Increase your visibility and findability by linking your ORCID iD to other systems and databases (e.g., Scopus, Web of Science/Publons, Gemeinsame Normdatei, DataCite, Crossref, and PubMed) and thus creating a link to existing data sets, profiles, or identifiers. Your ORCID iD, which you provide with information on academic activities and your own research performance, can also be used like a detailed business card or research profile, for example, when submitting proposals and applications.
5. Control over data! You have full control over what information you provide and who can see it. For each piece of information, you can individually set whether it should be visible to the public, only to your own institution, or only to you. Only your name is always visible. Data protection and control over your own data are inherent principles of ORCID. ORCID also does not sell or use the deposited data for advertising purposes.

Last but not least, there are many advantages for scientific institutions when scientists use ORCID iDs. The specification of an ORCID iD can be integrated into the systems of an institution, for example, an institutional repository. However, the benefits go far beyond this: Publication data from ORCID records can be imported by researchers at the institution from a source authorised by the researchers and do not have to be tediously entered manually. This can be of great value in determining publication metrics. Additionally, institutions can correct or add to researchers' affiliation information (with their consent). Extensive information and the connection of ORCID iD with other systems and databases can also incidentally increase data quality, which can help an institution's libraries, for example. In the end, the researchers themselves benefit from all these applications and uses.