The unique assignment of contributors to their publications is one of the greatest challenges facing publication management in science. The ORCID DE project, funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), takes on this task. The aim of the project is to promote and establish Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) throughout Germany as a unique identifier for researchers at universities and non-university research institutions. The international ORCID Consortium currently cross-links over 2.8 million publishing authors worldwide with their publications and research data via their unique identifier.

The Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) – German National Library of Science and Technology in Hannover and ORCID DE aim to join forces to develop and operate the ORCID Germany Consortium for research institutions in Germany. TIB will undertake the administrative management of the consortium and manage ORCID membership for research institutions in Germany.

The following institutions, as initial members, enabled the signing of the consortium agreement by TIB and ORCID on 1 October 2016:

• DataCite – International Data Citation Initiative e. V.
• Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH
• Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin für Materialien und Energie
• Helmholtz Centre Potsdam – GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences
• Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) – German National Library of Science and Technology – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology
• Universität Regensburg

By 30 November 2016, the following institutions had additionally joined the ORCID Germany Consortium as founding members:

• German National Library
• Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Leibniz-Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK)
• Göttingen State and University Library (SUB)
• TU Dortmund University
• Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH)
• Technische Universität München
• Bielefeld University
• University of Duisburg-Essen
• Mainz University Library
• University of Potsdam

Together, these 18 members of the ORCID Germany Consortium take on a pioneering role in the implementation of ORCID in Germany.

Since the announcement of the consortium’s establishment, 43 institutions have expressed their interest in becoming a member of the ORCID Germany Consortium via the ORCID DE website. Compared to individual membership of ORCID, members benefit from a reduced membership fee, less administrative burden and the central administration of agreements. In addition, TIB and the ORCID DE project offer a platform for the exchange of experience and information as well as the development and transfer of expertise. Interested institutions still have the opportunity to join the consortium.

“By supporting ORCID and the international DataCite consortium, we at TIB pursue and advocate the goal of cross-linking researchers to their research achievements with a unique identifier and of making their publications and objects more visible. The numerous responses from institutions interested in becoming a member show that we are on the right track, having established the ORCID Germany Consortium,” stated Dr. Irina Sens, Interim Director of TIB.

“The ORCID DE project is looking forward to the launch of the consortium! The great interest shown is evidence that we are successfully taking up an important challenge of publication management with this project,” stated Roland Bertelmann, Project Leader of ORCID DE at the Helmholtz Open Science Coordination Office.

Institutions wishing to obtain information about becoming a member of the ORCID Germany Consortiumcan find more details here.

Information about ORCID DE

The aim of the ORCID DE project is to sustainably foster Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) at universities and non-university research institutions by taking a comprehensive approach. ORCID DE received funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the beginning of 2016 for a period of three years. Partner organisations of the DFG-funded project ORCID DE are the German National Library, the Helmholtz Open Science Coordination Office at the German Research Centre for Geosciences GFZ and Bielefeld University Library. The project was initiated by the German Initiative for Networked Information (DINI). Find more information about ORCID DE here.

Information about the Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) – German National Library of Science and Technology

The Technische Informationsbibliothek (TIB) – German National Library of Science and Technology (TIB) in Hannover is the Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology and University Library. Acting in the capacity of the German National Library for technology as well as architecture, chemistry, information technology, mathematics and physics, TIB supplies both national and international researchers and industry with literature and information from its special fields. Acting in the capacity of a University Library, TIB provides students, researchers and teaching staff from all faculties of Leibniz Universität Hannover with literature and information in both printed and electronic form. TIB has outstanding collections of fundamental and highly specialised literature on science and technology. Its remit is to preserve recorded knowledge and to provide the latest information for research and industry, both now and in the future, irrespective of the time and the place. The aim of TIB is to provide its customers with innovative, efficient and smooth access to data, information and knowledge, and to make large information spaces available to them in a structured, suitable manner. TIB conducts applied research and development to optimise the services it offers. As a founder member of the DataCite Association, TIB is involved in inter alia the allocation of Digital Object Identifiers (DOI) to facilitate online access to research data and to promote their acceptance as independent, citable research objects. The DataCite Office is managed by TIB in Hannover. Website: https://www.tib.eu/en