An ORCID is a 16-digit number assigned to you (registration is free) by ORCID Inc., an international, open, not-for-profit organization. Their stated aim is “to transform the research ecosystem by providing a registry of persistent unique identifiers for researchers and scholars and automating linkages to research objects such as publications, grants, and patents.” An “ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that distinguishes you from every other researcher and, through integration in key research workflows such as manuscript and grant submission, supports automated linkages between you and your professional activities ensuring that your work is recognized.”
Attach your ORCID to all of your things: sync your ORCID account to Scopus or ResearcherID; include it in your author profile and contact information on all of your publications; include it in your CV; include it in your grant proposals and reports; include it in the metadata of your datasets when you deposit them in repositories or publish them in data journals. ORCID offers you a way to link all of this disparate information and assure that it is attributed to you.
What is ORCID? from ORCID on Vimeo.
A Quick Tour of the ORCID Record from ORCID on Vimeo.