改變研究生態系統的願景

ORCID 為跨地區、學科的非營利組織，透過註冊個人識別碼將研究文章及研究人員做連結。ORCID 執行董事 Laurel L. Haak 博士，她於史丹佛大學完成生物學學士、碩士學位，1997年同樣於史丹佛大學取得神經科學博士學位，她到美國國立衛生研究院 （National Institutes of Health, NIH）進行博士後研究，結束後，她到 Science’s Next Wave（也稱為Science Career）擔任編輯以及博士後研究網絡的管理者，接著，她在美國國家科學院的科學、工程和公共政策委員會擔任主管職務，之後她於 Discovery Logic 擔任首席科學主管，不久後 Discovery Logic 被湯森路透收購。她在湯森路透倡導研究政策及研究評估系統的管理與發展。Haak博士於2012年加入 ORCID。


Q: 很有趣的是您原先為專業的神經科學家，是什麼原因促使您轉換到政策、研究評估及系統發展領域？

這確實是個冒險的決定，回過頭來看它完全是有跡可尋的。生物醫學博士後研究卻從事不同領域的工作的確違背常規。我真的很喜歡寫作、迎接挑戰、實現新的想法，把這些特點全放在一起（外加一點我無法在一個地方久留）促使我嘗試新的事物並開拓全新的研究生涯有些人稱之為「演化」。

目前研究人員及學者主要透過發表文章於有同儕審閱的期刊獲得聲譽，但還是有許多人沒有因此獲得知名度，因為在發表文獻裡他們的名字有不同的寫法。有些名字和許多其他人同名同姓，有些名字以拼音翻譯或拼錯了，有些人的名字隨著生涯而改變。即使只專注在期刊文章，這些變化或不明的名字增加正確辨識研究人員的困難度，此外，作者可能有不同的成就與經歷，例如：同儕審閱、專利、資料集、顧問，將這些貢獻與正確的姓名連結是非常困難的，這也使的引用變得困難，更不用提及分享了。ORCID 藉由提供永久個人身分識別碼解決姓名變體的困擾，此組織不但幫助連結一個人的所有姓名變體，且可以將之合併在研究流程中（獎助金申請、協會會員、投稿會議摘要），這樣的連結與引用研究、學術貢獻可以幫助我們更了解個人的貢獻，改變我們對於知識生產的觀念，並可能改變研究和學術活動的推展、認可和獎勵的誘因。

Q: 當 ORCID 的發起和永續發展需高度依靠學術組織的支持，為什麼您認為 ORCID 將由研究人員推動？

釐清學術記錄需由研究人員及學者引領進行，ORCID 的創立就是以此為目標，研究人員必須參與並註冊帳號，ORCID 的原則為研究人員可管理他們的學術研究與身分辨識碼的連結，及如何公開和分享。

Q: 關於數據與屬名的相關性，您面臨哪些問題？

我發現兩種變異問題：因為數據品質問題導致的測量錯誤和數據無法獲得研究貢獻的廣度。ORCID 的身份識別碼加上組織、論文、數據集、其他作品貢獻永久識別碼可幫助解決以上兩個問題。

Q: 雖然研究內容總是比任何形式的數據更重要，但其他領域近期發展的數據、永久識別碼及屬名也成為熱門話題，您可以告訴我們 ORCID 帶來的影響，及如何影響學術面向？

ORCID 身份辨識碼已與統計發表數據的平台整合，像是 Scopus 和 Web of Science，此外也與處理替代指標的工具結合，包括 Altmetrics、Impact Story 和 PLOS Article-level Metrics。

Q: 在一年內，約有超過五十萬人註冊 ORCID 身份編碼，120個橫跨不同學科、部門、國界的組織註冊會員，此發展如何衡量 ORCID 的主要目標？

我們估計全球大概有一千一百萬名活躍的研究員、學者，我們第一年的目標是達到五十萬人註冊，而我們做到了！排名前五個的國家分別為美國、中國、葡萄牙、印度及英國。我們的使用者來自200多個國家及國界，在2014年，藉由不斷與研究人員互動及將 ORCID 身份辨識碼與更多發表、贊助、大學研究程序與系統整合，達到三倍使用者的目標，會員制對我們組織永續性扮演重要的角色，我們今年努力讓會員成長兩倍及整合，並期望2015年時，會員可以再成長兩倍。

Q: ORCID 獲得英國高等教育的認同，視為辨識研究人員的工具，其他國家希望將 ORCID 列入他們的國家計劃裡，您預計將如何整合及實現此計畫？

目前丹麥、葡萄牙、瑞士及英國在國內推薦ORCID，其他國家還正在討論階段，英國 Joint Information Systems Committee（JISC）及 Association for research managers and administrators（ARMA）近期公開將以國家為單位增進 ORCID 身份辨識碼的計劃，而我們正在開發工具，協助共同合作的組織單位使用及嵌入身份辨識碼，我們提供合約、折扣、應用程式介面技術文件給合作的會員，整合範例、參考網站、軟體程式碼範例，也提供當面技術協助，我們幫助協調永久身份辨識碼，例如將您的 ORCID 身份辨識碼與他人、文件、組織的辨識碼連結，我們也樂意與技術優良的組織合作，現階段，根據技術人員的專業技術資料庫 XML 和 APIs，我們考慮開發工具，幫助只有有限技術協助的組織，如果這可以幫助您的組織，歡迎讓我們知道您的意見回饋。以國家為單位，藉由中央控制基礎設備及技術協助，可以幫助簡化 ORCID 身份辨識碼的整合，例如：大學、高等教育協助內部儲存管理、驗證和追蹤畢業生、向贊助者報告研究結果，總的來說，這樣的整合幫助研究組織內外交換數據過程，「登入一次，多次使用」的功能增進被研究被發掘機會且讓研究人員有更多時間參與研究與學術活動。

Q: 西方國家已經對 ORCID 已有些了解，您計劃如何引起其他地區的注意？

ORCID 的使用與會員制是國際性的，我們提供註冊和不同語言的註冊介面， 我們與 ORCID 大使合作及直接在 ORCID 上提供資訊給組織像是 ORCID 會員意得輯。我們在不同地區舉辦一年兩次的推廣會議與研究人員與組織互動，今年將在芝加哥與東京舉辦，在未來我們會在西班牙、巴西及加拿大舉辦，歡迎您與我們聯絡若您想在您的城市舉辦相關活動！此外，我們透過部落格及社群媒體公佈新功能、舉辦網路研討會、跨學科領域會議、地區宣傳活動和聯絡資訊。

Q: 開發者大會與駭客馬拉松（Codefests and hackathons）！ORCID 2014年5月21日至24日於芝加哥舉辦的會議「拓展及開發者會議（Outreach and Codefest Meeting）」，您可以用易懂的方式向還不了解或好奇此議會的人解釋其概念嗎？

拓展及開發者會議是一個直接與 ORCID 員工互動的機會，研究團體已可與他們的同儕會面，討論整合計劃，這個五月的拓展會議會著重於史隆贊助的採用與整合計劃（Sloan-funded Adoption and Integration program）的獲獎人：大學與整合 ORCID 身份辨識碼於資料庫、教職員資訊系統、博士論文工作管理流程、會員系統、聯合登入管理工作流程的專業協會，我們也正舉行開發者大會，目的是聚集負責 ORCID 整合計劃的軟體開發人員，提供他們直接與 ORCID 技術團隊溝通的機會，現場備有高熱量的食物、並設置最誘人開發設計獎（由同儕票選），這些密切的合作幫助快速解決問題及發展，也可以激發一些有趣的企劃，在2013年的開發者大會，參與者開發了app應用程式，將 ORCID 註冊活動與地圖標籤功能結合，建立圖書館密碼，資源描述結構（RDF）協助已連結 ORCID 中的紀錄數據。

Q: 您可以向使用者分享近期將推出的新功能嗎？了解 ORCID 發展的最佳方式為何？

在過去三個月，我們推出將您 ORCID 身份辨識碼與您組織和贊助獎項連結，我們接下來將推出新功能，您可以指定人員代為管理您的帳戶，實施使用者的訊息系統，如此發表的研究可以在您的 ORCID 記錄中來回往返於期刊、贊助者等，我們將會提供會員此項服務，我們已根據註冊使用者實施一些功能，我們鼓勵您拜訪我們的 iDeas forum 並票選想法，您可以透過 Twitter 關注 @ORCID_Org或訂閱我們的電子報隨時了解 ORCID 最新活動與功能。 Contributors

A vision to transform the research ecosystem

Laurel L. Haak, PhD, is the Executive Director of ORCID, a non-profit organization that works across regions and disciplines to connect research and researchers through a registry of unique and persistent personal identifiers. She is a Stanford Medical School graduate, earning her PhD in neuroscience in 1997 after completing a BS and MS in Biology, also from Stanford. After her postdoc with the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), she worked as an editor for Science's Next Wave (today known as Science Careers) and as a manager of the Postdoc Network. She went on to serve as a staff officer for the Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy at the US National Academies. She then held the position of Chief Science Officer for Discovery Logic, later acquired by Thomson Reuters, where she advised on research policy and managed development of research evaluation systems. Dr. Haak joined ORCID in 2012.


Q: Interestingly, you are a neuroscientist by advanced training. What prompted your transition to policy, research evaluation, and systems development?

I took a risk. Looking back, it makes complete sense. But as a postdoc in biomedicine, deciding to do something other than bench work was a serious departure from the expected norm. I really enjoy writing, I enjoy a challenge, and I like to take ideas and make them real. All of these things together (plus the fact that I have a hard time staying in one place for long) have been drivers for me to try new things and carve a career path that some have described as “evolutionary.”

Q: This path of challenge and change has led you to ORCID. Tell us about ORCID's aim to “transform the research ecosystem?” Could you give an overview for those who are not yet familiar with ORCID?

Right now, researchers and scholars are recognized primarily for their peer-reviewed journal article contributions. And even then, many are not well recognized because of variations in how their name appears in the published literature. Some names are shared with many other people, some names are transliterated or misspelled, some names change over a person’s career.
These variations, or ambiguities, make it very difficult to accurately identify a person’s body of work, even when focusing on one work type, the journal article. In addition, there are many contributions a person makes, such as peer review, patents, datasets, mentoring, that are virtually impossible to link back to the contributor and therefore impossible to cite, let alone share. ORCID can change all of that by providing a persistent and unique person identifier that can not only link together all name versions for a person, but also is embedded in research workflows (such as grant application, association membership, meeting abstract submission…) that creates a hard link between a person and many contribution types. This ability to link and cite people and their research and scholarly contributions can help us better understand an individual’s contributions, alter our view of knowledge production, and potentially alter incentives for what and how research and scholarly activity is carried out, acknowledged, and rewarded.

Q: Why do you see ORCID as a “researcher-driven initiative” when its launch and sustainability is owed largely to the support of organizations?

Disambiguation of the scholarly record will not work without researchers and scholars taking a leading role. This fundamental fact underlies the founding of ORCID. Researchers must get involved, register for an ORCID ID. A key ORCID principle is that the researcher controls what is linked to their identifier, and how it is displayed and shared on their ORCID Registry.

Q: Given the interrelated nature of metrics and attribution, what concerns regarding metrics are often voiced to you?

I hear variations on two themes: that the measurements are inaccurate because of data quality issues, and that the metrics do not capture the breadth of research contributions. Embedding of ORCID identifiers, in concert with persistent identifiers for organizations, papers, datasets, and other contributions, can address both points.

Q: Though the content of research is always more significant than any metric, recent developments in the area of metrics, persistent identifiers, and attribution have nonetheless been exciting on many fronts. Can you tell us what impact ORCID has and could have on scholarly metrics?

ORCID identifiers have been incorporated into platforms used to derive publication statistics, namely Scopus and Web of Science, as well as in tools used to crunch alternative metrics, including Altmetric, Impact Story, and PLOS Article-level Metrics.

Q: In roughly a year, over 500,000 individuals have registered for an ORCID identifier, and 120 organizations have become members spanning disciplines, sectors, and the globe. How does this progress measure against ORCID’s mission objectives?

We estimate that there are on the order of 11 million active researchers and scholars in the world. Our goal in the first full year of operation was to reach 500,000 registrants, and we did! The top five countries are the United States, China, Portugal, India, and the United Kingdom. That said, we have over 10,000 users each in over 40 countries, and users in over 200 countries and territories. We are striving to triple participation in 2014, by continuing our direct engagement with researchers and also supporting the integration of ORCID identifiers in more publishing, funding, and university research processes and systems. Memberships are critical for our sustainability. We are working to double memberships and integrations this year, and double again in 2015.

Q: ORCID has been endorsed by the UK’s higher education network as a tool to identify researchers. Similarly, other countries have expressed interests to make ORCID their national scheme. How do they plan to incorporate it and what work would go into making this a reality?

National-level adoption of ORCID has been recommended by groups in Denmark, Portugal, Sweden, and the UK, and is under discussion in other nations around the world. In the UK, JISC and ARMA have just announced a pilot project to develop best practices for national adoption of ORCID identifiers. On our part, we are developing tools and processes to support groups of organizations working together to use and embed ORCID identifiers in their systems. We provide a consortium member agreement and discount, outreach and technical documentation, APIs, examples of integrations, reference sites, and sample software code to support the community use of ORCID identifiers; for our members we also provide person-to-person technical support. We work to coordinate initiatives in the persistent identifier area, for example the ability to link your ORCID identifier to other person identifiers, to identifiers for documents, and to identifiers for organizations. As an international organization, we work with organizations with a wide range of technical readiness. At the present time, integration of ORCID identifiers depends on access to technical staff with knowhow in databases, XML, and APIs. We are considering creating tools that would enable organizations with limited technical support to engage with ORCID—please let us know if this would be of help with your organization. National adoption can help to streamline the integration of ORCID identifiers by providing centralized infrastructure and technical support. Among the use cases are integration by universities and other higher education institutions to support internal repository management, validation and tracking of graduates, reporting of research results to funders, and in general enabling interoperable data exchange between research systems, both within and between research organizations. The ability to “enter once, use many times” save researcher’s time in data entry and improves data quality, enhancing discoverability and leaving researchers more time to engage in research and scholarly activities.

Q: While it has gained momentum in Western regions, how do you plan to bring awareness to other regions?

ORCID usage and membership is international. We provide Registry and content in several languages to enable ease of use of the Registry, and we work with ORCID Ambassadors and organizations like Editage, an ORCID member, to provide information on ORCID directly to researchers. We host bi-annual Outreach meetings in different regions to engage with researchers and organizations, this year in Chicago and in Tokyo. Future meetings will be hosted in Spain, Brazil, and Canada—contact us if you would like to host an event in your city! In addition, we present webinars, participate in disciplinary society meetings, go on local road shows, and communicate information on new features and integrations through our blog and social media venues.

Q: Codefests and hackathons! ORCID’s next Outreach and Codefest Meeting (May 21-24, 2014) in Chicago will have one of these. Can you explain the concept in layperson’s terms to those of us who don’t know it… and are curious by nature?

Outreach meetings and CodeFests are an opportunity to interact directly with ORCID staff, and also for the research community to meet with peers and discuss integration plans. The Outreach meeting in May will highlight our Sloan-funded Adoption and Integration program awardees: universities and professional associations that are integrating ORCID identifiers into repositories, faculty information systems, dissertation workflows, membership systems, and federated access management workflows. We are also hosting a CodeFest—the objective here is to bring together software developers working on ORCID integration projects and provide them with direct access to the ORCID technical team, high-calorie food, and the lure of prizes for best in show (as voted by their peers). The close collaboration enables rapid troubleshooting and development, and leads to some interesting projects. At our 2013 CodeFest participants created an app to tag a map with ORCID Registry activity, established code libraries, and implemented RDF support for linked data representations of ORCID record data.

Q: Can you share with us any exciting upcoming features for users? What is the best way for users to keep abreast of major ORCID developments?

In the last 3 months, we have released the ability to link your ORCID iD to your organization and to your funding awards. We will be releasing new functionality so you can assign a delegate to manage your account, implementing a user messaging system so that published works information can “round trip” from the journal, funder, etc., to your ORCID record, and we’ll be enabling the ability for members to validate information in an ORCID record. We have implemented several features requested by Registry users – we encourage you to enter and vote on ideas in our iDeas forum. You can keep up-to-date on ORCID activities and features by following us on Twitter @ORCID_Org, and by subscribing to our newsletter.

Contributors