1.
ORCID Integration
into Researcher
Information Systems
Christopher Shanahan MD MPH
Faculty Lead, Research Networking, BU CTSI
ORCID 0000-0001-9067-5922

2.
Setting – Boston University
Charles River Campus (CRC)
Non-Medical Sciences, Humanities, etc.
Medical (BUMC) campus
Schools of Medicine, Public Health, Dental
Medicine
Boston Medical Center (BMC)
14 Community Health Centers (CHCs)
Other affiliated clinical partners
Boston VA Healthcare System
West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Bedford

3.
Integration points
 Informational / gateway web pages
 http:/sites.bu.edu/orcid/
 http://sites.bu.edu/orcid/agreement/
 Standalone Web application enables individuals to create own ORCiD
 ORCiD creation based on the BU HR data or via BU Profiles
 ORCID Registration / Signup
 ORCID – BU Profiles API:
 Can push Profiles affiliation records.
 Administrative Mapping of ORCID permission to Profiles permission level.
 Administrative creation of ORCiDs for;
 Individual with a Profile but no ORCiD recorded.
 Individual in a certain institution, department, division, or faculty type.
 A other specific individual.
 Web or API
 Provide an ORCiD
 User is redirected to ORCID URL to login
 After successful login, user redirected back to BU site
 User’s ORCiD is associated with BU Profiles internal username field (BU ID)
 ORCiD information updated based on the Profiles data
 1. Narrative (if new or updated); 2. Web Sites; 3. Publications

4.
ORCID integration with BU Profiles:
 ORCID – BU Profiles API
 ORCiD record created through the Profiles/ORCID API.
 For individuals with an existing profile populates ORCID with
works (publications), websites, biography (narrative), employment
and education.
 Profile roles mapped to ORCID privacy levels.
 ORCID publically displayed as a hyperlink with BU Profiles.
 Users logged in to BU Profiles & editing their profile can:
 create an ORCiD, if they don’t have one.
 conduct basic updates from Profiles  ORCID.
 Bulk ORCID creation possible by a system administrator based on
selection criteria (school, department, division, person-type, etc.).

5.
Data flow between systems
 Faculty Record Creation (Workflow)
 Individual receives formal BU faculty academic
appointment
 Appointment entered into faculty database and SAP by
Provost office staff
 BU Profile created for new faculty member within a
week of academic appointment.
 BU Profiles disambiguation engine produces a
first publication list for faculty member’s profile.
 Faculty member receives an email notice to login
in to BU Profiles to review new profile, confirm
publications, & add other content (narrative,
websites, awards, etc.)

6.
Workflows: New Faculty, Post-Docs,
Graduate & Undergraduate Students
 Records initially created for all BUMC faculty
 On-boarding process to identify new faculty for ORCID creation.
 Plan: Wait until ORCID delegate information can be sent through the API
before creating any new ORCID records for BUMC and CRC faculty.
 Delegate/proxy will not be assigned for postdocs & students
 Will increase awareness of ORCID, direct individuals to an application
which facilitates the creation and reporting of their ORCID (an opt-in).
 Tracking and Reporting of Academic Outcomes
 Target individuals at BU nearing graduation/departure.
 Develop process to keep BU Profiles up-to-date with works & other
information ensuring accurate tracking (via ORCiDs) of future academic
outcomes & productivity of individuals (Faculty & Students) departing BU.
 Rationale: create & track the ORCID IDs for every researcher ever
involved with the institution for internal & external reporting (e.g. training
grant proposals, etc.)

7.
Future Workflows: ORCID Record creation
 When ORCID enables delegates.
 BU Profiles IT Team prompts faculty member to create ORCiD (or
ask if they want us to do it for them).
 IT Team confirms existing ORCiD.
 After confirmation data pushed from BU Profile to ORCID.
 New or revised workflows to create (or report
existing ORCID records) for university
constituents:
 BUMC faculty
 BUMC postdocs
 BU UROP (undergraduates focused on research)
 CRC grad students
 CRC faculty

8.
Policy issues
 Sought engagement from the Medical Campus Provost Council
members
 Can make high-level decisions (e.g. opt-out for faculty; opt-in for others).
 BU General Counsel
 Reviewed ORCID policy & implementation plan
 Created the BU ORCID Acknowledge & Consent
 Describes ORCID terms of use, privacy policy and, record dispute procedures, privacy
levels, what to expect, and how data might be might be used.
 Opt-In vs Out:
 Universal opt-out strategy for Full-Time Faculty at the Medical Campus
 some ad hoc exceptions.
 Opt out:
 Full- and part-time BUMC faculty have the option to opt-out of ORCID.
 BUMC faculty not opting out, ORCiDs records created/prepopulated from BU
Profiles
 One (1) of 1616 eligible faculty opted out
 55 eligible individuals had an existing ORCID.
 Decision to start at the medical campus
 Easier to push publications data for faculty and postdocs in BU Profiles.

9.
Researcher participation (Outreach)
 Opt-In vs Out:
 Universal opt-out strategy for Full-Time Faculty at the Medical
Campus with some ad hoc exceptions.
 All communications regarding ORCID sent via the Provost’s
office to increase likelihood email are read / acted upon.
 Introductory / Orientation Presentations targeting:
 Faculty
 Graduate Students/Fellows & Post-Docs
 Medical Students
 Provosts
 Deans
 General Faculty Meetings
 Faculty Development Conferences

10.
Discovered opportunities
 ENG (special test using ORCID to create BU
Profiles)
 UROP (Undergraduate Research Opportunities
Program)
 Grad students: Thesis submissions system
 University Library:
 Ongoing discussion of ORCID integration points with
citation/digital repository.
 Increasing ORCID functionality:
 Grant, employment, & education data exchange with
ORCID

11.
Linking ORCID with other identifiers
 Integrate / Store ORCiD within:
 BU HR system (SAP)
 ORCiDs will be stored centrally at BU Identity
and Access Management.
BU ORCID Integration demonstration links
http://sites.bu.edu/orcid/creation/
http://wwwapp1.bumc.bu.edu/it/orcid/UploadInfoToORCID.aspx
http://profiles.bu.edu/Christopher.Shanahan

12.
ORCID - BU Profiles Integration Team
 Project leader: Christopher Shanahan MD MPH
 Faculty Lead, Research Networking, CTSI, BUSM
 cshanaha@bu.edu
 Project Co-leader: Christopher Dorney
 Director, BUMC IT Application Services
 dorney@bu.edu
 Technical contact: Peter Flynn II
 Senior Application Developer, BUMC IT Application Services; ORCID
technical lead
 pflynn@bu.edu
 Marco Basta
 Senior Application Developer, BUMC IT Application Services
 bastam@bu.edu
 Karim Kabbara
 Senior Application Developer, BUMC IT Application Services
 kkabbara@bu.edu
 Jim Vlachos
 Application & Web Specialist, BUMC IT Application Services
 jvlachos@bu.edu