The scrutinizing look on the impending proliferation of mandatory ORCID use from the perspective of data protection,privacy and freedom of science

Abstract

ORCID stands for the Open Researcher & Contributor ID. It is both the digital identifier (number) for scientists and researchers, and the name of the non-profit organization. ORCID wanted to solve the problem of name ambiguity by assigning a unique identifier to the interested researchers. It was started several years ago as a voluntary community-based initiative. Currently ORCID has become an important player in science and publishing. The commonly observed situation now is that authors are asked or even forced (by publishers, universities or funding agencies) to register in ORCID, even if they do not want to. Therefore, the paper presents a use-case and discusses if there are any possible threats from ORCID's growing position and the policy to make it mandatory. The paper also raises the question if it is ethical to force anyone (including researchers) to open and register in ORCID or any other service.