A PID is a unique, long-lasting digital reference to an object, contributor, or organization. They are typically a string of letters and/or numbers and are used to distinguish between and locate different objects, people, or organizations. Well-known examples of PIDs are ISBN numbers assigned to books and Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs), which frequently identify journal articles.
Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID)
ORCID is a PID for researchers that records professional activities and disambiguates one researcher from another. An ORCID profile connects researchers with their contributions and affiliations over time, despite name changes or different name formats. It can be connected in some way to most other creator profiles, and is the most interoperable creator PID. ORCID profiles can be created and edited by researchers. Refer to the resources page and the ORCID Help Center for detailed assistance and tutorials.
ResearcherID is a unique identifier that differentiates researchers in the Web of Science. It is assigned to the researcher profile and it disambiguates researchers across Web of Science, InCites, and EndNote.
Scopus Author IDs are automatically assigned to authors with works indexed in the Scopus abstract and citation database. Scopus Author IDs can be linked with ORCID.
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
A DOI is a digital identifier of an object, not an identifier of a digital object. DOIs can be assigned to any object, whether physical or digital. DOIs serve as unique, permanent numbers assigned to specific objects, and remain unchanged. They are the most common type of identifier for digital objects, particularly for scholarly, research, and technical publications.
Funder IDs are listed in the Crossref Funder Registry, an open registry of persistent identifiers for grant-giving organizations around the world. Funder IDs improve transparency of research funding by linking research with grant and funder information.
Global Research Identifier Database (GRID) ID
The GRID collects unambiguous institutional information and assigns a PID and metadata including aliases and addresses to each listed research institution. The GRID is available for download and reuse under a CC0 1.0 license.
Research Organization Registry (ROR) ID
ROR IDs are identifiers for research organizations. ROR IDs store metadata about organizations such as alternate names/abbreviations, external URLs, and other identifiers. The ROR ID database is based on seed data from GRID.
If you have questions about Research Visibility & Impact, or any of the content on the subsequent pages, please contact Andrea Malone, RVI Coordinator.