Research Guides: Researcher Profiles & IDs: Overview

Why Should I Create a Researcher Profile and ID?

A researcher profile is an online record of your scholarly output. There are a few tools that allow you to create and maintain a profile, including ORCID iD, ResearcherID from Web of Science, and Google Scholar.

Build your online presence so scholars, funders, journalists, and students can find you and your work.
Ensure that you are credited for all of your scholarship.
Make it easier to track all your publications.
Some allow you to track metrics of publications to monitor the scope and reach of your work.

Recommended Resources

The following platforms or programs will allow you to create author profiles and to disseminate, share and discuss your research and work with a broad audience, an important step in ensuring that your work can be discovered and cited.

ORCID
The most important tool in managing your online identity. An ORCID iD distinguishes you from other researchers and allows you to automatically report your research for grant applications, professional associations, and more. Connects with Web of Science.
ResearcherID
A unique identifier for researchers on Publons, Web of Science, and InCites.
Google Scholar
Create an identity by clicking "My Profile." This creates a link for your name in Google Scholar and brings together all your research on one page. Google Scholar only tracks articles available on the public web.
SMU Scholar
Showcases SMU’s research and scholarly achievements by providing open access to research, publications, conferences, and other scholarly works of the SMU academic community.
Figshare
A repository where users can make all of their research outputs available in a citable, shareable and discoverable manner.
Impactstory Profiles
Create a profile in order to track social media and other related traffic that relates or engages with your research and work.
ResearchGate
A social sharing tool for researchers that can help you promote your work and find collaborators. Make sure to check your author agreement before posting copyrighted work.

Need more help?

Scholarship & Research Support
Provides a variety of consultation, support, and tools to help researchers. Contact us at srstudio@smu.edu.

Related Guides

Author Rights & Copyright
SMU Libraries Copyright team
Find Places to Publish
Measure Scholarly Impact