December 2025 Newsletter
December 2025 Newsletter
Galter Library
As research, publishing and funding systems become increasingly digital and interconnected, managing your scholarly identity is essential. With millions of researchers working across disciplines, institutions and countries, relying on names alone is no longer enough to reliably connect individuals to their scholarly work. Publications, datasets, grants and affiliations now move across platforms used by publishers, funders, institutions and indexing services.
To bridge these systems the scholarly community developed the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID), a universally-recognized, unique identifier that distinguishes you from other researchers and connects you to your scholarly outputs and professional activities. It stays with you throughout your career, regardless of name changes, institutional moves or shifts in focus. ORCID is embedded across the scholarly ecosystem and is widely used by publishers, funders, repositories and research information systems.
Many journals already require ORCIDs at submission, and U.S. federal funding agencies are increasingly integrating ORCID into grant workflows. The National Institutes of Health will require use of federal Common Forms for biosketches and current and pending (other) Support, generated through SciENcv starting January 25, 2026 (NOT-OD-26-018).
As part of this transition, senior and key personnel will be required to have an ORCID and link it to their eRA Commons and SciENcv accounts. Get a head start on the NIH’s implementation of common forms for biographical sketch and current pending (other) support documents:
To support this transition, NIH has released preview versions of the common forms in SciENcv. These previews are not the final forms, and you should continue using the current forms until the change is finalized on January 25, 2026. The preview versions offer researchers an early chance to explore the system, understand the updated instructions and prepare for the eventual mandate. (PREVIEW) Current and Pending (Other) Support (CPOS) Common Form.
As compliance requirements take effect, an accurate ORCID profile is vital. Keeping it up to date ensures connected systems share trusted data, reducing manual entry and supporting NIH mandates. Instead of adding each publication or grant across multiple systems, you can authorize trusted services to send verified updates directly to your ORCID profile.
For step-by-step instructions on connecting key systems to your ORCID profile click on the links below:
When these connections are established, your ORCID profile becomes a living profile that updates as new publications, grants or datasets are registered.
In addition to external funder and publisher systems, institutional systems also rely on ORCID to improve accuracy and reporting. Northwestern Elements supports faculty publication tracking by using metadata from multiple sources to match publications to faculty members, generating lists of publications for Feinberg Faculty Profiles and the Feinberg Faculty Portal.
Connect your ORCID iD to Northwestern Elements to ensure that your profile stays up to date. Faculty members can log into Elements and curate their own publication lists, or they may work with designated departmental super users who have special permissions to manage records on their behalf. For more information, visit our Northwestern Elements GalterGuide to learn how to set up this integration.
Managing a digital research identity across multiple platforms can feel complex. Galter Library offers training, guides and personalized support to make it easier.
For questions or assistance, contact Galter Library at ghsl-ref@northwestern.edu.
