The NIH recently announced that ORCID IDs will soon be required for many grants offered by the NIH, AHRQ and CDC. This requirement focuses on individuals supported by research training, fellowship, research education, and career development awards. Some awards will require ORCID IDs as early as October 2019, while others will begin to require ORCID IDs in January 2020. For the awards affected by this change, the eRA system will validate that ORCID IDs have been linked with eRA Commons profiles, and applicants without a linked ORCID ID will not be accepted. See the eRA guidance for linking an ORCID ID with a Commons profile.
ORCID is a non-profit organization that provides faculty, researchers and students with a unique alphanumeric identifier. The ORCID ID is a non-proprietary means of establishing your author name and identity and can be associated with scholarly works such as articles, books/book chapters, posters, videos, professional activities such as editorial work or grant submissions, and more. The ORCID ID remains the same throughout your career regardless of affiliation history or name changes. This is especially useful for faculty, researchers and students who have common names or name and affiliation changes during their career.
Don’t have an ORCID ID yet? No worries! It’s very easy to sign up for one. Head over to the ORCID website to register. A Washington University institutional sign-in (using your WUSTL Key) is also available. Your works can be quickly imported from other sources such as Scopus or ResearcherID. You can also designate a delegate in ORCID to assist with populating and maintaining your profile. To learn more check out the Becker Library’s new ORCID subject guide.