Open Science Reading Group

Open Science Tools

Open Science is an umbrella term that covers a variety of efforts to make the research process and its products (including journal articles, datasets, and software) more transparent and accessible. To encourage open science at Stanford Medicine, Lane Library recommends the following tools:

This list is not exhaustive and does not include tools for analyzing data or making journal articles and other published work openly accessible. The Stanford Digital Repository, operated by Stanford University Libraries, is also an option for Stanford users looking to share data and other materials. For more information on how Lane Library supports open science, contact your liaison librarian. To engage with the open science community at Stanford Medicine, consider attending a meeting of the Open Science Reading Group.

Distinguish Yourself with ORCID

ORCID is an alphanumeric code, kind of like a social security number, that identifies you as a contributor to scholarly work.  Lane Library and the other libraries at Stanford recommend that every Stanford-affiliated researcher claim their ORCID.


Why claim your ORCID iD?
  1. Your ORCID iD is unique to you. Not only will ORCID help distinguish you from researchers with the same or similar names, but your ORCID iD will remain the same, even if your name or affiliation changes, maintaining the connection to the work you've done.
  2. ORCID helps you demonstrate all of your contributions. Using ORCID, you can demonstrate your contributions to a wide range of scholarly works, from journal articles and book chapters to posters and presentations.
  3. ORCID helps you connect and integrate. Once you have claimed your ORCID, you can use it to log into and connect a wide variety of profile systems and other tools. For example, Dryad uses ORCID for login and both the uploader and any co-authors can add their ORCID to published datasets.
  4. It is required. A growing body of scholarly publishers and funding agencies have begun to require that researchers list their ORCID iD as part of when submitting a new proposal or work.

Contact your liaison librarian if you have any questions about setting up or using your ORCID iD. For more information about maintaining your researcher identity, see our Research Impact guide

There are a variety of ways to claim your ORCID iD and link it to your Stanford credentials. Below we've listed what we think are the most straightforward steps. If you have questions or would like to set up a consultation, please contact your liaison librarian.

Claim your ORCID iD

  1. Register for an ORCID iD on ORCID's registration page. We recommend setting your default visibility setting to "Everyone" so ORCID can help you connect to other profile systems and tools.
  2. Connect your ORCID to your Stanford credentials and authorize Stanford as a trusted organization within ORCID by visiting this authorization page and completing the necessary steps.

Add information to ORCID

  1. Add information about yourself, such as your education and place of employment.
  2. Works, such as journal articles, can be added manually or one at a time using identifiers such DOIs or PMIDs. However, we recommend adding them from another system, such as CrossRef Metadata Search, DataCite, and Europe PMC. 
  3. Remember, you can add posters, presentations, datasets, and other types of work to your ORCID profile. Show off your contributions!

Why maintain an ORCID profile when you're already maintaining similar profiles elsewhere? Because you can actually use ORCID to connect to many of these systems and share content between them!

One such system is SciENcv (Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae), the profile system for anyone who applies for, receives, or is associated with research investments from federal agencies like NIH and NSF. Researchers can use SciENcv to create and maintain biosketches that are submitted with grant applications and annual reports.

Link your ORCID and SciENcv

  1. Log into your MyNCBI account. If you do not already have an account, you can log in using your Stanford credentials by clicking on "See more third party sign-in options" and selecting Stanford.
  2. When you see your dashboard, click on "Manage SciENcv" in the "SciENcv" box.
  3. Click "edit" in the grey box. Then complete the required information. Under "optional information", click to add your ORCID. If necessary, log into ORCID to complete the integration.
  4. Congratulations! You will now be able to pull from your ORCID profile to populate SciENcv documents!

For more information, see this video from NCBI or contact your liaison librarian 

In addition to profile systems like SciENcv, ORCID also integrates with a variety of other research-related tools giving you essentially a single sign and enabling you to share information about your contributions throughout your research toolchain. Below we've highlighted some tools that connect with ORCID that are widely used at Stanford Medicine.


Dryad, the open data repository, requires ORCID iDs for login. Once you've logged in and published a dataset through Dryad, you can be added to your ORCID profile as a work. Dryad also allows you to add ORCID iDs for co-authors.
Overleaf, the collaborative LaTeX editor allows you to login with your ORCID iD and connect your ORCID to your current account. Once your account is linked, your ORCID iD will be included when you submit work to participating publishers. 
Protocols.io is a repository for recording and sharing up-to-date research methods and protocols. Connecting your ORCID iD with your account allows protocols.io to post information about your published protocols onto the "Works" section of your ORCID record.