ORCID: Open Researcher and Contributor ID: Home: ORCID Basics

ORCID (Persistent Digital Identifier) Requirements included in New Common Form Implementations by Federal Funding Agencies

The UNC Office of Research strongly recommends the use of ORCID ID to meet persistent identifier requirements being implemented by federal funding agencies to meet the new Common Form Requirements. NSF currently requires ORCID, NIH will require ORCID in 2025, and it works for other agencies as well. Register for an ORCID iD and connect your ORCID to UNC via the UNC ORCID Portal.

For details on how the OSTP National Science and Technology Council Research SubCommittee's framework for implementing National Security Presidential Memo-33 will impact Current and Pending (Other) Support and Biographical Sketch documentation (also known as Common Forms) across federal funding agencies including NSF and NIH, visit this UNC Office of Sponsored Programs site - https://osp.unc.edu/proposal/other-support-and-biosketch/   

• ORCID (Open Research and Contributor ID) provides a persistent digital identifier (an ORCID iD) that distinguishes each researcher from all other researchers, especially individuals with similar names.
• ORCID iDs are used in research workflows, like manuscript and grant submissions, to create links between people and their professional activities in an open and publicly visible way.
  • Requiring ORCID in Publication Workflows: An Open Letter
  • Research Funders and ORCID: New members, mandates, and platforms
• ORCID is the most universal when compared with other unique author ID systems (i.e., ResearcherID from Thomson-Reuters and Scopus Author Identifier from Elsevier). It has been integrated with many major publishers including Thomson-Reuters and Elsevier as well as in NIH's SciENcv biosketch tool.

Register for an ORCID iD and connect your new or existing ORCID iD to your UNC ID (PID) at the UNC-Chapel Hill ORCID Creation and Connection Portal (UNC Portal). ORCID registration is free and takes less than a minute.

The UNC ORCID Portal will take you to the ORCID website to login to your ORCID account or create one if you do not have one. Here are the steps:

1. Log in to the UNC ORCID Portal with your Onyen (UNC 2-Step authentication required).
2. Select "Create or Connect your ORCID" button.
3. Login to your existing ORCID account OR Create one if you don't have one via these steps:
   • Fill in all the required fields on the form
   • Check the box next to “I’m not a robot”
   • Check the box to accept the terms and conditions
   • Click the “register” button at the bottom to submit the completed form
4. Authorize UNC-Chapel Hill as a Trusted Organization when prompted.

Once you have registered, your ORCID iD will look like “orcid.org/0000-0003-1079-1779.”

Once you have logged into your ORCID record, go to the "Works" section to start importing your works (see Import Works to ORCID below) and adding them to your record.

If you think you may already have an ORCID iD, but don't know the number or have multiple ORCID iDs please contact ORCID support.

Upon opening the ORCID homepage, click on the Sign In button in the top right hand corner.  

If you have never signed in before you have two options: a personal account or an institutional account.

It is recommended to create a Personal Account when you register for the first time.  This is to avoid getting locked out of your account if you lose access to your Institutional account once you graduate or leave UNC .  

You can then link your personal ORCID account to your UNC ONYEN account by clicking the Institutional account tab.  It will ask you for your affiliation and you can search for UNC-Chapel Hill.  Once you login to ORCID with your ONYEN and password it will prompt you to link your personal ORCID account to your institutional account.    NOTE: this linking step is separate and unrelated to the linking of your ORCID iD and your UNC ID (PID) that you complete at the UNC-Chapel Hill ORCID Creation and Connection Portal.

In your ORCID record, you have six options to add your works "Search & link," "Add ArXiv ID," "Add DOI," "Add PubMed ID," "Import BibTeX," and "Add manually":

1. Search & link

This best practice method allows you to add works by directly importing links to your publications and other works to your ORCID record from other database systems. This is the recommended process because it reduces or eliminates errors, allows for the addition of contributor information with works, and enables a reliable connection between your ORCID iD and your works. Select a preferred tool to start. If you are not sure which tool to select, try linking to CrossRef and Scopus; both of these sources cover journals from a broad range of disciplines and are likely to cover many of the journals you publish in. For more information, see the ORCID Support page on how to Add works by direct import from other systems.

ORCID will ask you to authorize the chosen tool to access to your ORCID record. Please click the "Authorize" button to proceed. Follow the instructions on the website of your chosen tool to identify your works. After you finish, your works will be sent to your ORCID record automatically.​ ORCID allows you to try one or several of the "Search & link" tools, sequentially. You may choose to allow Trusted Parties (Organizations and Individuals) to update or add to your record.  For more information, see the ORCID Support page and short video on how to Add works to your ORCID Record.

2. Add works using an identifier

You can now add a work to your ORCID record using any of the following identifiers: DOI (Crossref, DataCite, and mEDRA only at present), ArXiv, or PubMed ID, by clicking Add works, then Add ArXiv ID, or Add DOI, or Add PubMed ID. This can be a helpful option, however ORCID strongly recommends that you use the works Search & Link wizards to import works, rather than relying on identifier import due to the error reduction, completeness, and reliability that the Search & link method provides.  For more information, see this ORCID Support page on how to Add works using an indentifier.

3. Import BibTex

If you choose to import your works from a citation management tool, please make sure to export your works from the reference management software in BibTex format. BibTex is supported by most citation management software, including EndNote, Refworks, Mendeley, and Zetero. Check this citation manager comparison guide for more information about citation management software.

BibTeX import can be a helpful option, however ORCID strongly recommends that you use the works Search & Link wizards to import works, rather than relying on BibTex file import due to the error reduction, completeness, and reliability that the Search & link method provides.

How to import your works to ORCID from your preferred reference management tools:

• Export your works in BibTex format from your preferred reference management tool and save it on your computer
• Log into your ORCID record and import the saved BibTex file by choosing the "Import BibTex" option
• If you have questions see ORCID Support information on Importing works from a BibTeX file.

For details of exporting instructions for reference management tools, please check the following links:

• Refworks
• EndNote
• Mendeley
• Zotero

For more information, see this ORCID Support page on Importing works from a BibTeX file.

4. Add manually

It is best practice to use the Search & link wizard method to enable authorized ORCID partner organizations like Scopus, CrossRef, DataCite and others to add your works to your ORCID record whenever possible so that the information is accurate, validated and complete.  If there are cases where you need to add works to your ORCID record manually, choose the "Add manually" option and follow the instructions on the ORCID webpage. For more information, see this ORCID Support page on how to Add works manually.

If you already have your citations listed in Google Scholar, you can easily upload those citations to ORCID. 

1. Export your article citations from Google Scholar.

If you want to export a single citation, you can search for your article in Google Scholar and click on the quotation mark icon below the citation. A small window will pop up displaying several citation examples. Click "BibTeX" at the bottom of this window. 

If you want to export several articles, navigate to your Google Scholar Profile page and check off the articles you want to export. Hover over "Export" at the top of the page and click "BibTeX."

2. Save the citations as a plain text file. 

Google Scholar will automatically redirect to a page of plain text. Right click on this screen and click "Save As." Enter a name for your file. Keep the file type as "Text Document." If you are exporting several citations, they will appear as a list on this page. All of your citations can be saved as one file. 

3. Navigate to your ORCID page and import your BibTeX file. 

Scroll to the bottom of your screen to the tab titled "Works." Hover over the button "+Add Works" and click "Import BibTeX" from the small drop-down menu. 

Click "Choose File." Find the plain text file you downloaded from Google Scholar and open this file. 

4. Save your citations. 

Your citation should appear on your screen. If you imported multiple citations into ORCID, they should appear as separate citations. Make sure to save your citations or they will be deleted and you will have to import them again. You can save a single citation by clicking the Save icon on the right. You can save multiple citations by clicking "Save All" at the top of the list. 

5. Manually edit your citations if necessary. 

If you want to edit any of your citations, this can be done manually after you have imported and saved them into ORCID. Click the small pencil icon at the bottom right of a citation to edit it. You can also edit multiple citations at once by clicking "Bulk Edit" at the top of the list. 

1. Displaying ORCID iD on your personal website

Once you log into your ORCID record, you will see to the left of your Education and Employment information, in the sidebar, and option to Display your iD on other sites.

Clicking on this link will open box below with HTML code that you can paste into the code of your website.  

Copy and paste this HTML code into your site's HTML in the area in which you want it to appear. Note that the font and text color will match your sites defaults and may not look like the Preview seen on the ORCID website.

2. Inserting your ORCID iD into your email signature.  

To insert your ORCID iD with the ORCID logo icon into your email signature, click on the Display your iD on other sites link on the right sidebar of your profile.

Click on this option to open the HTML code used to display your ORCID iD on websites.  

Under the code you will see a preview of what your ORCID iD will look like when it is embedded.  You can select this link with your cursor and copy and paste it into your email signature.

Once pasted into your signature, it will create a link to your ORCID iD.

Please note that ORCID asks that you don't alter their logo in anyway.  To view the full guidelines on using their logo, see their Trademark and ID display guidelines.  

For more information on ORCID, please check out the resources linked below:

Contact the UNC ORCID Team with any questions or issues that you may have.