(16 February 2016) February 15 saw the official launch of the Australian ORCID consortium, at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra. The establishment of the consortium was collaboratively facilitated by Universities Australia (UA), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the Australasian Research Management Society (ARMS), the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL), the Council of Australian University Directors of Information Technology (CAUDIT), the Australian National Data Service (ANDS), and the Australian Access Federation (AAF).
The consortium brings together forty institutions, including thirty-six universities, the Heart Research Institute, CSIRO, the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council NHMRC. The Australian Access Federation has been appointed as the national ORCID Consortium Lead and will provide support for institutions to maximise the benefits of ORCID within Australia (http://aaf.edu.au/orcid/).
ORCID, an international, interdisciplinary and not-for-profit organisation created in 2010, makes it possible to accurately link research publications, data, patents and other research activities to the right researcher. The broad benefits of ORCID are many, including:
§ enabling researchers to interact with multiple institutions, publishers and funders in Australia and around the world, with all of their research activities clearly identified;
§ simplifying administrative processes, reducing duplication of effort and improving efficiency at all levels of the system;
§ supporting better data integration and analysis to assist with evaluation at an institutional and national level; and
§ enhancing the online presence and exposure of Australian researchers and their research activities to the global market, industry partners and international collaborators.
