Springer Nature extends its support for ORCID to enable more authors to receive proper credit for their work

Following a successful trial in 2017 across 46 Springer Nature journals (including 14 Nature-branded journals, 10 BMC journals and 22 Springer journals), which saw the use of ORCID identifiers mandated for corresponding authors of primary research manuscripts, Springer Nature continues to avidly support the take up of ORCID, the unique digital identifier for scholarly authors.  

From 28 August 2018 not only will all 27 Nature Research journals and all 18 Nature Reviews journals apply this mandate, but it will be extended immediately to some content type beyond primary research.  Nature and Nature Communications are to follow in due course.

With over 5 million users registered to date, using an ORCID iD makes it easier for authors to claim ownership of a paper and for the scientific community to correctly attribute and reward authorship.

Commenting, Alison Mitchell, EVP, Editorial and Publishing, Nature Journals and Chief Publishing Adviser, Springer Nature, said: “At Springer Nature we are committed to supporting our authors in sharing their discoveries and helping them receive proper credit for doing so.  The response to our trial was so positive that we are delighted to support the uptake of ORCID iDs by extending its use across the Nature Research portfolio.

“Ultimately, our vision is for all Springer Nature authors and reviewers to have an ORCID iD, and we are confident we will get there, slowly but surely.  About 73% of new author profiles on our submission system are now associated with an ORCID iD.” 

Springer Nature has also been running a 12-month pilot campaign to encourage Computer Science proceedings authors and editors to submit their work with an ORCID iD.   This campaign, which simply saw participants entered into a raffle for a book token, has seen the number of LNCS books with at least one author or editor with an ORCID iD increase from 48% in 2017 to 85% in 2018.