The University of Pretoria is proud to announce that it is now an official ORCiD member. The University joins the list of 11 South African ORCiD members. The agreement was signed on 8 September 2016 by Mr Robert Moropa of the University of Pretoria Library Services, and an official launch took place in the Merensky II Library Auditorium on Tuesday, 25 October 2016.

ORCiD is an open, non-profit organisation that is supported by a community of members from the research and scholarly communication environment. The organisation maintains a registry of unique researcher identifiers that are linked to research output.

ORCiD serves two purposes for authors. Firstly, it provides a unique identifier that helps researchers distinguish their work from that of other researchers, and secondly, it maintains a registry to which that work is linked. The unique identifier can be used throughout a researcher's career, even if they change their name or employer. For an institution, ORCiD can help with the time-consuming process of maintaining researcher records, populating local systems and updating institutional repositories, grant management systems and intellectual property databases.

ORCiD IDs are becoming a necessity, as some of the more than 500 ORCiD members request this in manuscript submission and grant application processes. Public information linked to an ORCiD ID can in some cases be used to pre-populate grant and manuscript submission forms.

Researchers can follow ORCiD's easy three-step approach to successfully create and use their unique ORCiD ID:

1. Register on ORCiD.org to obtain your unique ORCiD identifier.
2. Enhance your ORCiD record with your professional information and link to your other identifiers (such as Scopus, ResearcherID or LinkedIn).
3. Include your ORCiD identifier on your webpage, when submitting publications or applying for grants, and in any research workflow, to ensure you get credit for your work.

Researchers are welcome to contact their Faculty Information Specialist for more information about ORCiD.