ORCID API — LLMpedia

ORCID API
Name	ORCID API
Developer	ORCID
Released	2012
Programming language	REST, JSON, XML
License	Open database license (varies)

Contents

ORCID API The ORCID API is a web service that exposes persistent researcher identifiers and related metadata to enable unambiguous linking of researchers to works, affiliations, and funding. It supports interoperability among platforms such as PubMed, CrossRef, Scopus, ResearchGate, Google Scholar and institutional repositories like Harvard University, University of Oxford, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Stanford University. The API is used by publishers including Elsevier, Springer Nature, Wiley-Blackwell, funding bodies such as Wellcome Trust and National Science Foundation, and infrastructure providers like DataCite and Dryad.

Overview

The ORCID API implements a RESTful interface delivering researcher records and metadata in multiple formats to clients operated by organizations such as European Research Council, National Institutes of Health, European Commission, California Institute of Technology, and Max Planck Society. The service links to external authority systems like Library of Congress, Virtual International Authority File, and ISNI International Standard Name Identifier while aligning with standards used by Dublin Core, JSON-LD, and Open Researcher and Contributor ID ecosystems. Adoption spans publishers (The Lancet, Nature (journal), Science (journal)), universities (University of Cambridge, Princeton University), and consortia like CrossRef and OpenAIRE.

ORCID API uses OAuth 2.0 flows familiar to developers working with GitHub, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Twitter APIs, enabling delegated access for services such as Figshare, Zenodo, Mendeley, and ReadCube. Client registration and redirect flows resemble implementations used by ORCID members and organizations including American Psychological Association, Association for Computing Machinery, and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Permission scopes mirror practices used by UNESCO programs and permit record read/write patterns consistent with data sharing policies of European Research Council and funders like Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Endpoints expose resources similar to those modeled by systems at PubMed Central, CrossRef, DataCite, Scopus, and Web of Science. The data model covers person records, works, affiliations, funding, and peer review activities paralleling metadata schemas in DOAJ, ORCID integrations with CrossRef for DOIs, and exchange patterns used by Kudos and Altmetric. Representations support XML, JSON, and linked data patterns familiar to implementers from W3C and Schema.org projects. Identifiers referenced include Digital Object Identifier, International Standard Book Number, and PubMed ID, enabling mapping across services like CrossRef Event Data and Altmetric.com.

Common integrations include manuscript submission platforms used by Editorial Manager, ScholarOne, and publishing houses such as Taylor & Francis; repository synchronization for institutions like Yale University and Columbia University; grant application workflows for agencies like National Institutes of Health and European Research Council; and profile enrichment in academic networks similar to ResearchGate and Academia.edu. Use cases extend to citation tracking with Scopus and Web of Science, research assessment exercises like Research Excellence Framework, and researcher discovery services employed by libraries such as British Library and Bibliothèque nationale de France.

API providers apply rate limiting policies akin to those from GitHub, Twitter, and Google to protect infrastructure used by publishers (Elsevier, Springer Nature), repositories (Zenodo, Figshare), and aggregators like Dimensions (database). Clients should implement exponential backoff patterns common to integrations with Amazon Web Services, Azure, and Google Cloud Platform, and handle HTTP status codes used across RESTful services, as practiced by developers at MITRE and National Institute of Standards and Technology. Error payloads and retry guidance follow conventions seen in enterprise APIs from Salesforce and Stripe.

Security measures reflect industry norms applied by European Union Agency for Cybersecurity, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and institutions like Johns Hopkins University: TLS encryption, scope-limited OAuth tokens, and audit logging comparable to practices at Oracle and IBM. Privacy controls enable record visibility settings consistent with policies from General Data Protection Regulation authorities and funders such as Wellcome Trust and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, facilitating compliance for organizations like University of Toronto and University of Melbourne that manage personal data under national laws including Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act where applicable.

Client libraries, SDKs, and sample code exist in languages used by engineering teams at Google, Facebook, and Microsoft; community-contributed SDKs mirror ecosystems at PyPI, npm, and Maven Central and are used by developers at Harvard Library Innovation Lab, CERN, and Los Alamos National Laboratory. Documentation practices are similar to documentation portals maintained by Stripe, Twilio, and Stripe API communities, and training materials are shared with academic developer communities at Software Carpentry and The Carpentries.

Category:APIs