You might have seen persistent identifiers, PID, and ORCID iD popping up more frequently. Let's look at these terms and why they are becoming popular among funding agents, publishers, and researchers.
What is a persistent identifier (PID)?
According to the NNLM:
A Persistent Unique Identifier (PID) is a string of letters and numbers used to distinguish between and locate different objects, people, or concepts. A well-known example of a PID is a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) which is used to locate specific digital objects, frequently a journal article. Additional examples are ORCiD, a PID for researchers, and ROR, a PID for research organizations.
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Although some people use the term ‘permalink’ as synonymous with PIDs, permalinks are generally provided by content management systems (e.g., blogging software) and are designed to prevent link rot. Permalinks are dependent on the content management systems that create them and not on third party registries or separate entities that track and disambiguate concepts (e.g., research institutions) or resources (e.g., journal articles).
Examples
Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) for journal articles
ORCID IDs for researchers
ROR, PID’s for research organizations
(Accessed October 23, 2024)
This means that researchers with the same or similar names can be easily identified and distinguished from each other. And PID stay with researchers as they change institutes or names.
Here are some links to learn more about PID.
Who is ORCID?
ORCID (Open Researcher and contributor ID) is a global non-profit who seeks to help researchers distinguish themselves and their publications from others through the use of persistent unique identifiers (PID). These free PIDs, ORCID iD, are available to researchers upon signing up!
It is strongly encouraged that members provide details such as:
You can even link your record to your social media accounts and researcher profiles. Videos are available to help you through the process.
You are completely in charge of what information is shared and who is allowed to see it. These settings can be adjusted at any time.
It is becoming more common for publishers, repositories, and funding agencies to ask for or require authors' ORCID iD during the submission process.