Correctly Linking Researchers to Their Journal Articles: An Overview of Unique Author Identifiers

ABSTRACT

A number of factors can make it difficult to consistently and accurately identify individual researchers and their scholarly activities. One solution is to use unique author identifiers. Many author identifiers are available from inside and outside the library community. This column will, in lay terms, compare Scopus Author ID, ResearcherID, ORCID identifier, and ISNI (International Standard Name Identifier)—some of the more commonly used author identifiers—and explore the advantages and disadvantages of each. It will examine the differences among the four identifiers and their relationships to one another.