The HRB is adopting ORCID for applicants and grant holders, as well as for reviewers. 

By adopting ORCID, the HRB aims to improve the efficiency of the grant and reporting management processes, enhance the visibility and impact of funded research, and provide proper attribution to HRB-funded researchers and reviewers.  

Through the implementation of ORCID as one of the persistent identifiers and standardised, openly accessible data, the HRB also reiterate their commitment to:  

• Improve the research assessment. 

• Accelerate knowledge discovery and increase the integrity, transparency and reproducibility of research in line with the FAIR Data Principles and Open Science practices.  

• Strengthen research integrity practices.   

The HRB is a member of ORCID through the Irish ORCID Consortium since 2020. 

Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID, also referred as ORCID iD) is a free, unique persistent identifier for individuals engaged in research, scholarship and innovation activities. It is a 16-digit alphanumeric identifier which connects a researcher to their related data, such as research outputs, activities and achievements, throughout their career. The data in a ORCID record is always controlled by the individual, who has ultimate control over what happens with their data and who has permission to (re)use it. 

• Unique to a researcher who can claim credit for their work while controlling access to their data, no matter how many people have the same name. 

• Links all research related information together, such as publication, funding, affiliations, while the researcher controls the visibility of each piece of data.  

• Provides a portable data profile which is easy to share. 

• Reduces administrative burden by allowing trusted organisations (such as publishers, funders, institutions) to add authoritative research information to the ORCID record, and makes grant reporting easier, saving time for managing research. 

• Helps reduce the negative consequences of name changes. 

ORCID in HRB Grant applications and successful Grants  

The HRB strongly encourages researchers to use ORCID in grant applications and has recently integrated ORCID with their Grant Electronic Management System (GEMS). This allows for automated and authoritative data exchange and reduces the need for manual data entry, ensuring accuracy and consistency. 

When a researcher connects their ORCID with their GEMS account, and gives the necessary permissions: 

1. They can add their publication data stored in their ORCID record to their GEMS portal account and access this in HRB applications. 
2. If an applicant is awarded a Grant, the HRB will update a researcher’s ORCID record with information about a HRB Grant directly from GEMS, once the Grant starts. The data the HRB will transfer to the researcher’s ORCID record is authenticated, as the HRB is a trusted organisation. This will be implemented for Grants made in 2024 and onwards. 

In the first phase of the integration, HRB Grants will appear in the ‘Funding’ section of the lead researcher’s ORCID record only. However, the HRB is planning to extend this to co-leads and co-applicants, who will be assigned the ORCID defined contributor status of Co-Leads. Once this second phase of the integration is completed, the Grant records for Co-Leads and/or Co-Applicants will be automatically updated in all HRB Grants awarded from January 2024 onwards.  

When researchers associate their ORCID with their grant applications, the HRB can more easily link the awarded grants to specific researchers and their outputs. This helps to reduce administrative burden, ensure proper credit for researchers' work and enhance transparency. 

How do I register my ORCID with GEMS? 

If you have already registered with GEMS, you can add or verify your existing ORCID ID on the Basic Information page of your account profile. Applicants without an ORCID can easily register via the ORCID website.  

If you don’t have a GEMS account, please use the GEMS registration process. 

From January 2024 the HRB will be using Researchfish to collect information about the outputs and outcomes of the HRB funded research. The particularly deep integration between ORCID and Researchfish is making reporting easier. It enables users to reuse information in both ways: 

1. A user can pull information from their ORCID profile into Researchfish. If a user already has publications associated with their ORCID profile, they can choose to pull those publications into Researchfish for further use.  
2. A user can push information from their Researchfish portfolio into their ORCID profile. If a user has already entered information into Researchfish then they can reuse this information in a variety of ways, including passing it into their ORCID profile. 

HRB Open Research is a platform for HRB-funded researchers to rapidly publish their research outputs in an open and accessible way. It is a member organisation of ORCID and supports the use of ORCID, where possible. HRB funded researchers who wish to publish on HRB Open Research are strongly encouraged to use an ORCID iD. All work that is published with an HRB-funded researcher as an author will automatically (subject to permission) be added to the researcher ORCID profile, removing the need for doing it manually. HRB Open research also provide proper attribution to reviewers. More information is here.  

The HRB will be using ORCID to acknowledge the contribution of peer and panel reviewers as their efforts play a crucial role in maintaining the quality and integrity of the HRB funding decisions. This public acknowledgement does not compromise the anonymity and confidentiality of the assessment process.    

From 2024 and subject to individual permission, the HRB will be adding affiliated data to the ORCID profile of reviewers as ‘Service’ under ‘Professional Activities’. 

All information added to your ORCID record is subject to the ORCID Privacy Policy. The source data is controlled by the HRB and is subject to the HRB  Privacy Policy. 

Researchers control the visibility of items within their ORCID record. We recommend that researchers set the default visibility of the ORCID record to “Everyone”, so that any information written by other Trusted Parties that they give permission to write to the ORCID record will be accessible in ORCID’s open public metadata, which is widely reused for research and reporting.  

Researchers can withdraw the HRB’s permission to update their ORCID record at any point and may do so either through their GEMS portal account or in their ORCID account.

• About ORCID 

• Frequently asked questions about ORCID 

• Register for an ORCID iD 

• ORCID Privacy Policy 

• HRB Privacy Policy 

• HRB Open Research