There are currently 4 major platforms for keeping a publication and activity record (although, newer services such as Semantic Scholar are developing systems). We recommend that everyone should get an ORCID as their main author ID, as it is non-commercial and is best integrated with journals, funders and other profiles.

However, if you wish, you can also create a profile/ID on the other services too, and link them together. Having a Web of Science or Google Scholar profile in addition can make it easier to find publication statistics for yourself (see module 3). Note that many databases today, including Web of Science and Scopus, build profiles whether you want one or not (based on automatic detection of your publications). "Claiming" these profiles will allow you to control and edit what is added to them - or you can choose to let them stay automatic.

You should only have one profile/author ID on each platform.

The next pages will cover how to build your ORCID, and how to claim/make a Web of Science or Google Scholar Profile.

See more about ORCID author ID and profile The ORCID logo

https://orcid.org/
You can list publications, other types of work, funding, peer-review, memberships, invited positions and distinctions - visibility for each section can be controlled.
The profile does not show publication statistics, and has good privacy control.
ORCID is platform independent, so it has been adopted by many publishers, funding agencies, and commercial services as a cross-platform ID. You can also sync it with several other profiles/platforms.
You can (or may be required to) provide your ORCID when applying for funding or publishing. Adding your ORCID when submitting publications allows these publications to be unambiguously attributed to you.
Good for all subject areas
ORCID is a researcher-centred, international, non-profit organisation.
An example of an ORCID: 0000-0003-2826-5935

See more about ResearcherID and Web of Science profile (Web of Science database, Clarivate) Web of Science logo

You can list publications, journal editing and peer-review activities. Your 10 most recent works are shown by default; viewers must have a WoS subscription to see more.
Displays publication statistics (citations and h-index). Detailed statistics require a sign-in, or a WoS subscription.
The data is based on Web of Science core collection. Publications not indexed in Web of Science can be added to your profile, but citations of these works will not be counted. This makes this platform good for medicine and natural sciences (which are well-covered by WoS), but less suitable for some fields within social sciences, law, arts and humanities; check Web of Science coverage for your area.
If linked to your ORCID, these profiles will keep each other updated, saving you time.
WoS automatically generates profiles for authors.
An example of a Web of Science profile: AAG-8023-2019

See more about Google Scholar profile (no author ID, Google Scholar database) The Google Scholar logo

https://scholar.google.com/
Profiles are based on your name, email and affiliation - you do not get a unique ID
You can list publications.
Displays publication statistics (citations and h-index)
Good for fields not well covered by Web of Science, such as the arts and certain fields within the humanities, law, and social sciences.
No automatic profile - if you haven't made one, you don't have one.
An example Google Scholar profile

See more about Scopus Author ID and profile (Scopus database, Elsevier) The Scopus logo

UiB does not subscribe to Scopus. This makes it hard to explore the data for individual publications. Your 10 most recent works are shown by default; users must have a Scopus subscription to see more. You can preview here: https://www.scopus.com/freelookup/form/author.uri
Displays publication statistics (citations and h-index)
The data is based on Scopus, thus citations and h-index are only counted for publications in Scopus. This may make this platform less suitable for those in law, arts and humanities, depending on topic.
Scopus automatically generates profiles for authors.
An example of a Scopus profile: 56205036300

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