[A unique author ID is a possible solution to the name ambiguity problem].

Area of Science:

• Bibliometrics
• Scholarly Communication
• Information Science

Background:

• Author name ambiguity poses challenges in connecting researchers with their scholarly contributions.
• Distinguishing between individuals with identical names is crucial for accurate academic attribution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) as a solution to author name ambiguity.
• To establish ORCID as a central hub for validating scientific work.
• To assess the adoption and impact of ORCID within scientific communities.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of a unique 16-digit identifier for each scholar.
• Development of a non-profit organization to manage and promote the ORCID initiative.
• Monitoring the integration of ORCID into scholarly workflows and validation processes.

Main Results:

• ORCID successfully provides a persistent, unique identifier for researchers.
• The system addresses the critical issue of distinguishing authors with similar names.
• The initiative serves as a test case for the broader acceptance of standardized research identification.

Conclusions:

• ORCID offers a robust solution to author name disambiguation in scholarly publishing.
• The widespread adoption of ORCID is key to improving the integrity of scientific record-keeping.
• The success of ORCID will indicate the scientific community's readiness for standardized research identification systems.