How are paper authors uniquely identified?











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Some authors have ORCID id in order to be identified and distinguished in case of authors with similar name, change of name, different name format etc. Although some sources don't provide the ORCID id of the author(if any exist) which causes a lot of problems when someone try's to harvest papers from websites with scholarly resources.
I have thought that a combination of some author features like name,email,affiliation could be enough to distinguish the authors but I dont think this is a robust solution.



Is there any way to uniquely identify all the authors ?










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    up vote
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    down vote

    favorite












    Some authors have ORCID id in order to be identified and distinguished in case of authors with similar name, change of name, different name format etc. Although some sources don't provide the ORCID id of the author(if any exist) which causes a lot of problems when someone try's to harvest papers from websites with scholarly resources.
    I have thought that a combination of some author features like name,email,affiliation could be enough to distinguish the authors but I dont think this is a robust solution.



    Is there any way to uniquely identify all the authors ?










    share|improve this question
























      up vote
      5
      down vote

      favorite









      up vote
      5
      down vote

      favorite











      Some authors have ORCID id in order to be identified and distinguished in case of authors with similar name, change of name, different name format etc. Although some sources don't provide the ORCID id of the author(if any exist) which causes a lot of problems when someone try's to harvest papers from websites with scholarly resources.
      I have thought that a combination of some author features like name,email,affiliation could be enough to distinguish the authors but I dont think this is a robust solution.



      Is there any way to uniquely identify all the authors ?










      share|improve this question













      Some authors have ORCID id in order to be identified and distinguished in case of authors with similar name, change of name, different name format etc. Although some sources don't provide the ORCID id of the author(if any exist) which causes a lot of problems when someone try's to harvest papers from websites with scholarly resources.
      I have thought that a combination of some author features like name,email,affiliation could be enough to distinguish the authors but I dont think this is a robust solution.



      Is there any way to uniquely identify all the authors ?







      publications digital-researcher-id






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      asked 4 hours ago









      Agelos

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          Aside from ORCID (which by far not every paper and person has), there really is no sure-fire way to uniquely identify an author. Using the name becomes problematic with common names (not unusual anywhere in the world, but a particularly common issue in Asia) or name changes (for instance in case of marriage). Combining with affiliation and e-mail address will also only get you so far as most academics tend to change universities at least once or twice in their career, and both affiliation and e-mail address tend to change in these cases.



          For bibliographic research, the most promising approach is probably to combine all of the above with field information (e.g., a Markus Huber publishing in medicine is not particularly likely to be the same as a Markus Huber publishing in philosophy), and train some sort of heuristic classifier. Clearly, false positives/negatives will happen, but if your goal is to holistically assess a larger field of research a few false categorizations are unlikely to impact the overall picture too much.



          If your goal is to assess an individual researcher, really the most accurate information is usually to trust what information the researchers themselves maintain (e.g., a CV or publicly available publication list).






          share|improve this answer




























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            This is exactly what ORCID tries to achieve:




            ORCID is a nonprofit organization helping 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. (from their website)




            However, not everybody is aware of this initiative or cares enough to set up an ORCID for themselves. Some journals require ORCIDs upon submission, e.g. for Nature Methods each Corresponding authors needs to have an ORCID.
            The problem with using other information to identify researcher, is that this information can change as opposed to a uniquely assigned number.






            share|improve this answer





















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              2 Answers
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              2 Answers
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              up vote
              7
              down vote



              accepted










              Aside from ORCID (which by far not every paper and person has), there really is no sure-fire way to uniquely identify an author. Using the name becomes problematic with common names (not unusual anywhere in the world, but a particularly common issue in Asia) or name changes (for instance in case of marriage). Combining with affiliation and e-mail address will also only get you so far as most academics tend to change universities at least once or twice in their career, and both affiliation and e-mail address tend to change in these cases.



              For bibliographic research, the most promising approach is probably to combine all of the above with field information (e.g., a Markus Huber publishing in medicine is not particularly likely to be the same as a Markus Huber publishing in philosophy), and train some sort of heuristic classifier. Clearly, false positives/negatives will happen, but if your goal is to holistically assess a larger field of research a few false categorizations are unlikely to impact the overall picture too much.



              If your goal is to assess an individual researcher, really the most accurate information is usually to trust what information the researchers themselves maintain (e.g., a CV or publicly available publication list).






              share|improve this answer

























                up vote
                7
                down vote



                accepted










                Aside from ORCID (which by far not every paper and person has), there really is no sure-fire way to uniquely identify an author. Using the name becomes problematic with common names (not unusual anywhere in the world, but a particularly common issue in Asia) or name changes (for instance in case of marriage). Combining with affiliation and e-mail address will also only get you so far as most academics tend to change universities at least once or twice in their career, and both affiliation and e-mail address tend to change in these cases.



                For bibliographic research, the most promising approach is probably to combine all of the above with field information (e.g., a Markus Huber publishing in medicine is not particularly likely to be the same as a Markus Huber publishing in philosophy), and train some sort of heuristic classifier. Clearly, false positives/negatives will happen, but if your goal is to holistically assess a larger field of research a few false categorizations are unlikely to impact the overall picture too much.



                If your goal is to assess an individual researcher, really the most accurate information is usually to trust what information the researchers themselves maintain (e.g., a CV or publicly available publication list).






                share|improve this answer























                  up vote
                  7
                  down vote



                  accepted







                  up vote
                  7
                  down vote



                  accepted






                  Aside from ORCID (which by far not every paper and person has), there really is no sure-fire way to uniquely identify an author. Using the name becomes problematic with common names (not unusual anywhere in the world, but a particularly common issue in Asia) or name changes (for instance in case of marriage). Combining with affiliation and e-mail address will also only get you so far as most academics tend to change universities at least once or twice in their career, and both affiliation and e-mail address tend to change in these cases.



                  For bibliographic research, the most promising approach is probably to combine all of the above with field information (e.g., a Markus Huber publishing in medicine is not particularly likely to be the same as a Markus Huber publishing in philosophy), and train some sort of heuristic classifier. Clearly, false positives/negatives will happen, but if your goal is to holistically assess a larger field of research a few false categorizations are unlikely to impact the overall picture too much.



                  If your goal is to assess an individual researcher, really the most accurate information is usually to trust what information the researchers themselves maintain (e.g., a CV or publicly available publication list).






                  share|improve this answer












                  Aside from ORCID (which by far not every paper and person has), there really is no sure-fire way to uniquely identify an author. Using the name becomes problematic with common names (not unusual anywhere in the world, but a particularly common issue in Asia) or name changes (for instance in case of marriage). Combining with affiliation and e-mail address will also only get you so far as most academics tend to change universities at least once or twice in their career, and both affiliation and e-mail address tend to change in these cases.



                  For bibliographic research, the most promising approach is probably to combine all of the above with field information (e.g., a Markus Huber publishing in medicine is not particularly likely to be the same as a Markus Huber publishing in philosophy), and train some sort of heuristic classifier. Clearly, false positives/negatives will happen, but if your goal is to holistically assess a larger field of research a few false categorizations are unlikely to impact the overall picture too much.



                  If your goal is to assess an individual researcher, really the most accurate information is usually to trust what information the researchers themselves maintain (e.g., a CV or publicly available publication list).







                  share|improve this answer












                  share|improve this answer



                  share|improve this answer










                  answered 3 hours ago









                  xLeitix

                  97.5k34234378




                  97.5k34234378






















                      up vote
                      2
                      down vote













                      This is exactly what ORCID tries to achieve:




                      ORCID is a nonprofit organization helping 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. (from their website)




                      However, not everybody is aware of this initiative or cares enough to set up an ORCID for themselves. Some journals require ORCIDs upon submission, e.g. for Nature Methods each Corresponding authors needs to have an ORCID.
                      The problem with using other information to identify researcher, is that this information can change as opposed to a uniquely assigned number.






                      share|improve this answer

























                        up vote
                        2
                        down vote













                        This is exactly what ORCID tries to achieve:




                        ORCID is a nonprofit organization helping 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. (from their website)




                        However, not everybody is aware of this initiative or cares enough to set up an ORCID for themselves. Some journals require ORCIDs upon submission, e.g. for Nature Methods each Corresponding authors needs to have an ORCID.
                        The problem with using other information to identify researcher, is that this information can change as opposed to a uniquely assigned number.






                        share|improve this answer























                          up vote
                          2
                          down vote










                          up vote
                          2
                          down vote









                          This is exactly what ORCID tries to achieve:




                          ORCID is a nonprofit organization helping 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. (from their website)




                          However, not everybody is aware of this initiative or cares enough to set up an ORCID for themselves. Some journals require ORCIDs upon submission, e.g. for Nature Methods each Corresponding authors needs to have an ORCID.
                          The problem with using other information to identify researcher, is that this information can change as opposed to a uniquely assigned number.






                          share|improve this answer












                          This is exactly what ORCID tries to achieve:




                          ORCID is a nonprofit organization helping 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. (from their website)




                          However, not everybody is aware of this initiative or cares enough to set up an ORCID for themselves. Some journals require ORCIDs upon submission, e.g. for Nature Methods each Corresponding authors needs to have an ORCID.
                          The problem with using other information to identify researcher, is that this information can change as opposed to a uniquely assigned number.







                          share|improve this answer












                          share|improve this answer



                          share|improve this answer










                          answered 3 hours ago









                          L_W

                          61619




                          61619






























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