ORCID has introduced a new feature called Researcher Connect, designed to help member institutions more easily link researchers with their institutional systems. The feature allows institutions to reach out to researchers who have an ORCID iD and a verified institutional email domain but have not yet connected their ORCID record with the institution’s system.
Once connected, institutions can – with the researcher’s consent – add verified information to their ORCID record, such as affiliations, research outputs, and other relevant data. These entries are marked with Trust Markers, indicating that the information originates from an authoritative institutional source.
For researchers, this connection primarily saves time when filling in information in grant applications or manuscript submission systems. For institutions, it enables better visibility of their researchers’ activities and improves the discoverability of research outputs across the global research information ecosystem.
The feature was first tested in a pilot programme with several universities, including the University of Oxford, Aarhus University, and the University of Vienna, where it led to a significant increase in the number of connected ORCID records.