ORCID is a nonprofit helping to create a world in which all who participate in research, scholarship and innovation are uniquely identified and connected to their contributions and affiliations, across disciplines, borders, and time.

Handy tip: You don't need to enter your publications manually on ORCID, you can import easily from other sources. See below:

1. Register for an ORCID iD 
2. Link this to your publications on Scopus and  Web of Science. See http://libguides.library.nuigalway.ie/researchprofiles/ScopusandWebofScienceGS
3. ORCID's import works page on how to import research output from other sources to your ORCID profile, including creating a BibTeX file. This method allows you to export your full list of publications from IRIS.
4. Once you have updated your ORCID profile, you then include your ORCID id on future journal submissions and keep your publication list updated on Scopus and Web of Science:

• Use your ORCID iD when submitting a paper or dataset, and
• Authorize Crossref and DataCite to update your ORCID record. 

See ORCID blog post for more information https://orcid.org/blog/2016/06/24/auto-update-has-arrived-orcid-records-move-next-level

Crossref
If you publish an article that includes your ORCID iD with the publication metadata (i.e. you supply the ORCID iD to the publisher with the manuscript and they pass it along to Crossref), then Crossref will reach out to you though ORCID to request permission to add that article to your ORCID record. At the same time, Crossref will also request permission to add all future articles that include your ORCID iD. This process can only be initiated by Crossref once they have a publication that includes your ORCID iD embedded in the article metadata -- there is not a way to grant this permission before they ask for it.

Datacite
If you connect your ORCID iD to your research data when submitting it to a data center which deposits to Datacite, then Datacite will be able to automatically update your record -- with your permission. You must first enable Datacite auto-update in your Datacite user profile. To do this, sign into Datacite profiles https://profiles.datacite.org/sign_in and enable ORCID auto-update in the ORCID claims section of your account settings: https://profiles.datacite.org/users/me 

 

"Why Identifiers Matter" presented by Laurel Haak (ORCID) at the ORCID Hungary Workshop in Budapest on May 25, 2017: