1. Individual Identifiers, International Interoperability
Josh Brown
Programme Manager for Research Information Management and
Scholarly Communications.
17/10/2012 slide 1
2. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
The problem:
§ Is not new:
» Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593 CE)
Playwright, Poet, Translator. Also known as
Marlow, Marloe, Marley, Marly, Morley, Marlin…
§ Has not gone away:
» Josh Brown, Joshua Brown, Josh A Brown, Joshua A Brown, J.A.
Brown, J. Brown…
17/10/2012 slide 2
3. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
The problem:
§ Is bigger than ever:
» “Traditional scientific publishing, that is publication in peer-
reviewed journals, is still increasing although there are big
differences between fields. There are no indications that the
growth rate has decreased in the last 50 years. At the same
time, publication using new channels, for example
conference proceedings, open archives and home pages, is
growing fast.”
Larsen and Von Ins, (2010) The rate of growth in scientific publication and the decline in
coverage provided by Science Citation Index. Scientometrics. 84(3): 575–603. doi:
10.1007/s11192-010-0202-z
17/10/2012 slide 3
5. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
§ There are many national approaches
» Trove, DAI, Researcher Name Resolver…
§ These systems have great strengths in disambiguating researchers in
a national community or context, BUT
» People collaborate, move, migrate
» Research, disciplines, publishing are international
§ A ‘merely’ national system will always be partial, run into problems and
will need to talk to many other national systems
17/10/2012 slide 5
6. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Our approach:
§ JISC gathered our national community together
» The Association of Research Managers and Administrators
(ARMA)
» The Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE)
» The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA)
» Research Councils UK
» Researcher representatives
» UKOLN, University of Bath
» The Universities and Colleges Information Systems Association
(UCISA)
» The Wellcome Trust
17/10/2012 slide 6
7. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Our approach:
§ Spent time articulating the potential benefits
» Funders wanted improved career tracking
» Researchers wanted a reduced administrative burden
» Administrators wanted clearer institutional affiliations
§ Explored many aspects of the identifier problem for the UK
» Commissioned eight reports to inform discussions
» Held a series of meetings over 15 months
» Invited a range of experts to contribute
17/10/2012 slide 7
8. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Our approach:
§ Producing another national ID solution does not make sense without
an international ID infrastructure in place
§ ORCID seemed like the best fit to our stakeholders’ needs
§ There were still questions to be resolved
» Where are the gaps that need to be filled?
» How will ORCID coordinate with other ID initiatives?
» What are the high-value propositions that are within reach?
17/10/2012 slide 8
10. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Key findings:
§ Most are strongly in favour
of ORCID
§ There is a lot of careful
communication
to be done
§ Some issues are myths,
but some are real
17/10/2012 slide 10
11. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Key findings:
§ Our consultation uncovered a number of issues that are likely to be
relevant internationally
» Existing national systems need to coordinate
» Researcher versus organisational engagement
» Maximum benefits flow if everyone plays the game.
» Manage expectations now to avoid problems in the future
17/10/2012 slide 11
12. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Key findings:
§ It is essential to quantify the benefits to make the case for investing
in ORCID membership and integration.
» There are multiple people who spend an awful lot of their time just
trying to track down publications generated out of the organisation.
And those people could be much better deployed doing other things.
And as soon as you're talking about multiple people, you're talking
about hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, that potentially... can
be significantly reduced. And that's one UK organisation. So if you can
save half a person say at an organisation like [a research council], I
think that's pretty conservative. And you can do something similar at
each university in the UK, then you only need about ten institutions to
cover the entire running costs of ORCID for a year.
17/10/2012 slide 12
14. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Lessons:
§ We need to be clear and careful in articulating benefits
» Potential members must understand that this is an investment
» The level of reward depends on the level of GLOBAL commitment,
we are all interdependent
» Researchers need to understand that ORCID is not just for funders
and employers
17/10/2012 slide 14
15. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Lessons:
§ We must not try to whitewash – let’s not fall into the trap of ‘selling’
ORCID
§ Do not underestimate the costs, acknowledge the risks:
» How will ORCID work with the systems and standards that
institutions depend upon?
» What are the costs of implementing ORCID?
» We can quantify membership costs easily, but are there other
costs?
17/10/2012 slide 15
17. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Lessons:
§ In order to explore privacy issues further, JISC commissioned a legal
expert to assess the risks and mitigations. The key findings of that
analysis are:
» Breach of data protection is unlikely for much of the data ORCID
will hold
» Universities and funders will usually have expertise on hand to
assess risks, and this should be costs effective
» Creating an ORCID and asking a researcher to claim it will be fair
in most cases
» ORCID is a transparent and accountable organisation, and passed
their ‘adequacy assessment’
17/10/2012 slide 17
18. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
A new consensus:
§ The scope and aims of
our stakeholder group
have evolved alongside
ORCID
17/10/2012 slide 18
19. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
A new consensus:
§ The original group has grown and has endorsed a new, more practical
set of principles to drive ORCID adoption forward in the UK:
» The group members will join ORCID where appropriate or
implement ORCIDs in their systems
» We publicly advocate the use of ORCID
» The group will create a national coordination committee to ensure
that ORCID implementations across systems operate seamlessly
» The group encourages ORCID to work with other domain specific
ID schemes
17/10/2012 slide 19
20. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
A new consensus:
§ We are building a coordinated, common plan to accelerate the uptake
of ORCID in the UK:
» Continue to work with ORCID to ensure data protection worries are
dealt with
» Develop a really strong and thorough communications strategy
» Create and consult UK ORCID user groups
» Ensure that our national coordination group looks around the world
§ We would like to work with you to make all this happen
17/10/2012 slide 20
21. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Final thoughts:
§ A great deal has already been achieved
» Unprecedented level of consensus
§ We have been lucky
» ORCID is highly visible and arrived at just the right time
17/10/2012 slide 21
22. Individual Identifiers, International
Interoperability
Final thoughts:
§ Challenges remain: the technology works, but the cultural and political
challenges are real
» Without trust and cooperation, none of the potential benefits will be
realised.
» Organisational commitment is the key
» We can only attain the benefits together – internationally
17/10/2012 slide 22
23. Thanks for listening
Any questions? Get in touch
j.brown@jisc.ac.uk
17/10/2012 slide 23
