DOI and ORCID

DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

For some of us on Researchgate, have you ever wondered what DOI stands for, each time we attempt uploading our paper (s) on the platform? During the process at times, you are asked whether you wish to generate a 'DOI' for your article or that you should provide an existing DOI. Well, as strange as it may sound to some of us, the American Psychological Association (APA) has it that:

"A digital object identifier (DOI) is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a registration agency (the International DOI Foundation) to identify content and provide a persistent link to its location on the Internet. The publisher assigns a DOI when your article is published and made available electronically.

All DOI numbers begin with a 10 and contain a prefix and a suffix separated by a slash. The prefix is a unique number of four or more digits assigned to organizations; the suffix is assigned by the publisher and was designed to be flexible with publisher identification standards.

We recommend that when DOIs are available, you include them for both print and electronic sources. The DOI is typically located on the first page of the electronic journal article, near the copyright notice. The DOI can also be found on the database landing page for the article (http://www.apastyle.org/learn/faqs/what-is-doi.aspx).

For more on DOIs, see Electronic Sources and Locator Information (PDF) and the DOI category of the APA Style Blog."

ORCID

ORCID is pronounced: Awk - ID. This is a very good parameter for assigning uniqueness to articles/datasets. Now, for those of us who bore a different name and later changed to another name, this is a very good way of retaining our previous works so that they can always be linked to our papers/ profiles bearing our new names. Besides an author may bear same name with another author, this ORCID assigns uniqueness to each author's papers, irrespective of the names which are similar. It is advisable to register with ORCID. For some of us that submit articles to impact factor journals, you notice that they would usually want to identify your works by asking you to link up your submission profile with your ORCID  profile.

According to orcid.org,

"As researchers and scholars, you face the ongoing challenge of distinguishing your research activities from those of others with similar names. You need to be able to easily and uniquely attach your identity to research objects such as datasets, equipment, articles, media stories, citations, experiments, patents, and notebooks. As you collaborate across disciplines, institutions and borders, you must interact with an increasing number and diversity of research information systems. Entering data over and over again can be time-consuming, and often frustrating.

ORCID is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers. ORCID is unique in its ability to reach across disciplines, research sectors and national boundaries. It is a hub that connects researchers and research through the embedding of ORCID identifiers in key workflows, such as research profile maintenance, manuscript submissions, grant applications, and patent applications. "

You can read more from What is ORCID? | ORCID