NIH, AHRQ, and CDC announced in July 2019 that individuals who receive research training, fellowship, research education, and career development awards will be required to have ORCID iDs beginning in fiscal year 2020.

An ORCID iD is a unique and persistent digital identifier that researchers can use to distinguish themselves from other researchers.

If you are a prospective applicant for individual fellowships or career development awards, visit your personal profile in the NIH’s eRA Commons and follow the link to “Create or Connect your ORCID iD.” You can also create your ORCID profile first, and then link it with your eRA profile.

PD/PIs of institutional research training, career development and research education awards are urged to begin alerting potential appointees to complete this process.

Review Notice Number NOT-OD-19-109 for important details on how the ORCID iD requirement will be incorporated and enforced in the xTrain system appointment process in October 2019 and in January 2020 applications for individual fellowship and career development awards. Follow the steps provided in the notice to create an ORCID iD and connect it to your eRA Commons Personal Profile.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is an ORCID member and encourages all University researchers to create an ORCID iD. In addition to linking your ORCID iD to your eRA Commons Personal Profile, UNC-Chapel Hill also encourages University researchers to connect it to UNC-Chapel Hill via the UNC ORCID Portal. For more information about ORCID, please visit the University Libraries’ ORCID guide or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..