Early Career Researcher's Guide: UNC Basics
Created by Health Science Librarians
What Accounts Do I Need?
The following accounts will allow you to access resources available at the University of North Carolina and beyond.
- OnyenOnyen is the name for UNC's campus-wide identifier. Your Onyen, and the password that you choose to be associated with your Onyen, is utilized to gain access to electronic resources and services across campus. Once you create an Onyen and password, a UNC email account will automatically be created for you. You need to know your PID to create an Onyen.
- ILLiadILLiad is the InterLibrary Loan and document delivery service at UNC. This account will allow you to request books and journal articles from other libraries on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus and around the world. Use your Onyen and password for ILLiad account login.
- My NCBIMy NCBI allows you to customize services in PubMed and other National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases. My NCBI is also used to manage compliance with the NIH Public Access Policy. Click on the link above to view a guide on creating and using a My NCBI account.
- ORCID: Open Researcher and Contributor IDThe University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) encourages all faculty and other UNC scholars to register with ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) for an ORCID iD. There are several benefits to getting an ORCID iD, which will follow you throughout your academic / professional career. This ORCID guide provides a condensed introduction to what you need to know about ORCID at UNC.
- eRA CommonsThe electronic Research Administrator or eRA Commons is controlled by the NIH's Office of Extramural Research and is used to manage NIH grant awards. To create an eRA Commons user ID, submit a request to the UNC OSR via email, ResAdminOSR@unc.edu, The FAQ section of the UNC Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) site provides more information. Note that the eRA Commons ID does not transfer if a researcher changes institutions
Additional accounts to have
The following resources are optional, non-UNC accounts to open as a researcher
Google Scholar is a subset of Google that is designed to search for scholarly publications, including journal articles, theses, books, and reports. One useful feature of a Google scholar account is Google Scholar Citations, which allows you to monitor citations to your articles. Citation information is extracted from the scholarly articles within the Google Scholar database and from U.S. patents in the Google Patents database. Documents retrieved from Google Scholar should be verified for accuracy.
To get started, you need to create a Google Scholar Citations author profile:
- Sign in using your Gmail address and password OR
- Create a Google account using a different email address
- Add articles to your author profile
Learn more about viewing citations and obtaining citation metrics for articles in your profile.
ResearchGate is a platform where you can connect with other researchers with similar interests, share scholarly work, and collaborate. Please ensure to confirm copyright policies for published work before sharing on ResearchGate.
Professional Development and Technology at UNC
Campus resources for professional development and technology support.
- Professional DevelopmentThe UNC Center for Faculty Excellence offers myriad resources and programs for faculty, including workshops on academic research and individual research consultations.
- Technology SupportUNC Help is the site for technology support and resources at UNC. Learn how to connect to the wireless network at UNC, submit a help request and acquire software.