ORCID Helps Research Bloom at Seton Hall: Interim Provost Lillquist Makes New Data Identifier Tool Available to University

ORCID is a non-profit organization that provides an open registry of unique identifiers for researchers, and now, thanks to Interim Provost Erik Lillquist, ORCID has come to Seton Hall as a free resource for all students and faculty.

“ORCID allows researchers to be easily identified across a wide variety of publications and creations,” he said. “Librarians actively promote ORCID IDs to track faculty information across scholarly profile platforms, collecting information about works produced by scholars at their institution to promote exposure of that work in Institutional Repositories.” 

Lillquist is charged with advancing Seeds of Innovation and helping to utilize administrative and instructional expenses to the advantage of instruction, so this acquisition is right in step with his priorities at Seton Hall. The Provost’s Office is grateful to Anna Calka, Ph.D., Director of Advising and Technology Integration, for securing the institutional agreement for ORCID.

ORCID is a “free, unique, persistent identifier (PID)” which is important for researchers to distinguish their work from that of others with the same, or similar names. The ORCID ID’s that faculty create helps highlight research to be discoverable by funders and proactively sends data to organizations seeking to publish and fund research. ORCID ID’s are transferable if a faculty member moves to a different institution. It is important that academic researchers submit their scholarship through official channels and or publications, so their work can be uniquely identified as theirs - even if another author or student shares a similar name. To register for an ORCID ID, please view instructions or contact your liaison librarian.

Jose Lopez, Ph.D., Director of the Office of Grants and Research Services (OGRS) and Professor of Physics, is one of the University’s senior principal investigators most excited about the availability of this impressive tool for scholarly work. 

“The ORCID code has become a standard global identifier for individual researchers to better track their scholarship throughout their careers and gauge the impact of their research,” noted Lopez. “For Seton Hall University, it is very important that all our researchers, whether they are members of our world-class Faculty or current student researchers, are uniquely identified and the scholarly and societal influence of their research is measured throughout their careers.”

The promotional and expository literature on ORCID notes that an increasing number of academic institutions, publishers, and funding sources are using ORCID PIDs to find sources. Using an ORCID ID through Seton Hall University’s affiliation, you can link your  publications, organizations, and related collateral to you and your affiliated institutions, make sure only you receive contact and credit for work under your exact name, increase your visibility in searches, send your work immediately to funders and publishers, and have access to your data no matter where in the world you are - even if you change your job, career, organization, or name.

Signing up for an ORCID ID only takes a few minutes. University Libraries has instructions available and liaison librarians are available to support faculty and graduate students with questions. Now, with ORCID as a tool, University Libraries and OGRS’ ability to support research is growing. Said Provost Lillquist, “This is part of our ongoing efforts to raise the profile of research at the University and to make the world aware of the excellence of our faculty.” 

Sharon Ince, Assistant Dean of Information Technology and Collection Services, and Associate Professor, notes how vital the addition of ORCID is to the Seton Hall library tool set for faculty and students alike. “ORCID is essential for research dissemination as it allows for a researcher to be assigned a unique identifier that enables information to be shared between publishers, funders, and databases.”

Seton Hall University, which has been named a "High Research Activity" institution among Doctoral Universities in the latest Carnegie Classification, is among only 139 universities across the country designated as "High Research." The integration of ORCID systems will continue to heighten its profile. Lopez agreed. “We’re looking forward to having this additional measure to further understand the broad impact that our University has not only locally, but throughout the whole world.