Funders sign up to ORCID Open Letter


Author: Repost from Jisc scholarly communications

This is blog post was originally published by Jisc scholarly communications posted by on

As the persistent identifiers landscape evolves, various initiatives are in progress to improve efficiency and effectiveness in research processes. For example, the FREYA project aims to “extend the infrastructure for persistent identifiers (PIDs) as a core component of open research”. The ORBIT initiative coordinated by ORCID, is engaging with funders worldwide and sets out to “save researchers time, reduce duplicated effort and improve data quality”.

Increasingly funders have been requiring ORCID iDs (e.g..for principal investigators), so that individuals are represented more accurately and consistently within grant tracking or research outputs monitoring systems workflows. The aim is to ease the burdens inherent in the various complex processes involved in funding research.

ORCID have released an Open Letter from funders which shows a public commitment to implementing best practice ORCID workflows. The following funders have so far signed up:

  • FWF/Austrian Science Fund
  • National Research Foundation (South Africa)
  • Howard Hughes Medical Institute (USA)
  • Wellcome Trust (UK)
  • Research Council of Norway
  • CAPES (Brazil)
  • The Royal Society (UK)
  • UKRI (UK)
  • Swiss National Science Foundation

The support from funders for ORCID and the alignment of their systems to help further improve the technical infrastructure is welcome news for both Jisc and our member institutions.

Jisc leads the UK ORCID consortium and is also involved in various national and international initiatives and working groups, advisory & standards bodies, to inform and influence the progress and development of the wider persistent identifier landscape. We will continue to use our expertise to support and enhance the evolving ecosystem for everyone involved in the research lifecycle.

Read more about the ORCID Open Letter and read more on the Swiss National Science Foundation’s future plans.