ORCID identifier adoption in Spanish scholarly communication: A macro and micro level perspective

Personal identifiers have become essential for unambiguously identifying authors and their scholarly output. One of the top personal identifiers is ORCID because of its open, cross-national, cross-disciplinary nature. This study analyses ORCID adoption at two levels: (a) Spanish scientific articles in Web of Science (WoS), to explore ORCID presence in articles; and (b) European Research Council (ERC) grant recipients who are affiliated with a Spanish host institution, to explore the prevalence of ORCID-iDs, profile completion, and differences by gender, field, and funding scheme. Nearly 90% of Spanish scientific articles list at least one ORCID-iD, but only 14% of articles include an ORCID-iD for all authors. Implementation is therefore still limited, especially in the humanities. Concerning the micro-level, all ERC grantees have an ORCID-iD and an associated profile, which is generally public. Profiles include information in an average of four sections. ‘Works’ and ‘Employment’ are the sections most frequently completed. Fifty percent of profiles were updated in the last month, which suggests rapid updating. Factors influencing ORCID adoption and profile completion are discussed. Publisher and journal policies play a significant role by asking authors for ORCID-iDs and will be crucial in increasing the identifier's adoption.