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ORCID launches Crossref and DataCite Auto-Update

26 October 2015 Researchers can now opt to have their ORCID record automatically updated when their work is made public

ORCID, the non-profit organization that is working to address the name ambiguity problem in scholarly communications by providing a registry of persistent identifiers for researchers, today announced the launch of Auto-Update functionality, in collaboration with Crossref and DataCite.

Now, ORCID registrants who use their unique ORCID identifier (iD) when submitting a manuscript or dataset can opt to have their ORCID record automatically updated when their work is made public.

In addition, other systems that have integrated the ORCID registry and connected a researcher’s ORCID record – their faculty profile system, library repository, webpage, funder reporting system – can also choose to receive alerts from ORCID, allowing research information to move easily and unambiguously across multiple systems.

Crossref and DataCite, both non-profit organizations, are leaders in registering DOIs (Digital Object Identifiers - a unique alphanumeric string assigned to a digital object) for research publications and datasets. Each DOI is associated with a set metadata and a URL pointer to the full text, so that it uniquely identifies the content item and provides a persistent link to its location on the internet. Between them, Crossref and DataCite have already received almost a half a million works from publishers and data centers that include an ORCID iD validated by the author/contributor. With Auto-Update functionality in place, provided the researcher includes her/his ORCID iD at submission, information about these works can transit (with the researcher’s permission) to her/his ORCID record.

ORCID Executive Director, Laure Haak, warmly welcomed this new development: “Auto-update’s benefit to scholarly communications is something that publishers, librarians, funders, and researchers can all agree on: it is a game changer.”

Ed Pentz, Executive Director of Crossref, agrees: “This integration with ORCID and our ongoing collaboration with DataCite aims to build on existing infrastructure, tying systems together to save time for researchers. We have a drive to encourage even more publishers to deposit ORCID iDs with us and would like to invite people to a webinar to learn more”.

And Patricia Cruse, Executive Director of DataCite adds: “We all share the goal of “good science” and making it easier for researchers to share their work is a big part of that goal. By ORCID, Crossref and DataCite working together on Auto-update we are able to provide an easy way for researchers to further expose their work.”


More information is available on the ORCID blog. Please contact our communications team with any questions.

Last updated: 2015-March-26