A persistent identifier is a long-lasting digital reference. Persistent identifiers are necessary because, over time, many links or references cease to point to the original target. For example, if a journal changes their name, URLs referencing the previous title will no longer work.

ORCIDs, or Open Researcher and Contributor IDs, are used to identify people.

DOIs, or digital object identifiers, are used to identify items such as articles.

What is ORCID?

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) is a free researcher identifier and profiling system that helps researchers to establish and maintain their scholarly identity. An ORCID iD is a unique alphanumeric code that researchers use throughout their careers. ORCiD profiles are becoming increasingly required by NIH, scientific journals, and other systems for researchers.

The benefit of ORCID to a researcher is that it distinguishes you, and ensures your research outputs and activities are correctly attributed to you. This particularly particularly benefit investigators with common names, investigators who change their name during their career, investigators whose names have diacritics that may or may not be included in all journals (ex. Bùi vs. Bui) or investigators who find that their names are often rendered differently by different journals (ex. De La Cruz vs. Delacruz).

ORCID can easily be connected to your affiliations and is interoperable with many institutions, funders, and publishers. 

How do I get an ORCID?

Register for an ORCID by following the instructions at the link. We recommend signing up with your personal email address instead of your CU email address so if you ever change institutions, you won't lose access. Be sure to set your visibility settings to Trusted Organizations.

Please note that you will be able to edit your ORCID profile later, including adding other names (such as nicknames) and adding other email addresses.

Once you have finished creating an ORCID, please connect your ORCID to University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus by selecting connect your ORCID iD.

How do I use an ORCID?

Once you have an ORCID, you should please enter your alphanumeric code into any field labelled "Persistent identifier" or "ORCID" when publishing. Having an ORCID does nothing unless it is used when publishing.

In order to comply with the NIH mandate, you should enter your ORCID into the Persistent Identifier (PID) section of the Common Forms and link your ORCID ID to their eRA Commons Personal Profile.

What is a DOI?

DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier, and is a unique string of characters that identifies an online object, such as a research article. A DOI name is permanently assigned to an object to provide a permanent, standardized link to information about that object, including where the object can be found on the Internet. While information about an object can change over time, its DOI name will not change.

This is particularly important for research articles, as URLs can change or become inactive over time. For example, an article might be published at website.com/articles/articlename. If the journal later changes its name to website2.com, the previous URL will no longer work. Or, if the journal changes the organization of the site, the article may now be listed under website.com/research/articlename. If that article has a DOI, however, it can be found no matter what.

How do I get a DOI?

Research article, editorial, or other material published in a journal

Many journals automatically create DOIs when material is published. Check on the published page to see if there is an existing DOI. If the journal does not automatically create a DOI, see if you can also post your material to our repository, Digital Collections. Items in Digital Collections can receive a DOI on request.

Data, preprints, and other unpublished material

You can upload your work to a repository that provides DOIs. Please select the Where should I publish? tab on the left for more information about repositories for unpublished material.

Journals, repositories, websites, or other publishers

If you are interested in acquiring DOIs for materials on your website, you must go through a DOI Registration Agency. DOI Registration Agencies can help you create DOIs for everything you publish

How do I use a DOI?

Once you have a DOI, you should use it in place of a URL in any documents such as resumes or grant applications.