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Researcher Profiles and Identifiers: Home

Learn how to set up, maintain, and link together key researcher profiles and identifiers, such as ORCID iD and Scopus Author Profile.

Profiles & Why They Matter

When we talk about research impact, we should focus on visibility rather than impact. Visibility can boost impact, so long as the scholarship has the potential to make an impact*, but what boosts visibility? Three primary factors influence visibility: 

  • Openness
    • Making sure others outside large research institutions can access, read, and cite your work
    • Through publishers and/or Open Access repositories
  • Profiles & Identifiers
    • Making sure that you are properly identified and attributed for your work
    • Helps you control your own online identity and image, professionally and academically
  • Communication & Promotion
    • Through the publisher, news media, social media, and/or science communication tools like Kudos

This video will give a brief introduction to researcher profiles and how to strategically utilize them.

*Impact can take on many different meanings across disciplines and even within fields and subfields. For example, citations generally carry more meaning and weight in the science disciplines than in the humanities. In addition, certain fields have higher citation counts (such as the life sciences), while others might influence public policy more (such as urban planning). "Impact" is an ambiguous term, and overall, metrics should be used to support impact stories, or qualitative assessment, rather than supplant them. 

Contact - Consultations & Instruction

Need help with researcher profiles, author rights and/or Open Access? I'm here to help! 

headshot of Rachel Miles, research impact librarianRachel Miles

Research Impact Librarian

Rachel is currently away on parental leave and will return on January 31. For immediate assistance, please contact researchservices@vt.edu.

Resources & Workshop Slides

Open Access Resources

Open Access Resources at Virginia Tech Libraries

Open Access Week 2020 Events

Connecting the Opens

The Open Access Week kickoff event discusses the three central types of Open: Open Access, Open Education, and Open Data; a history and in-depth explanation of the scholarly publishing landscape is also reviewed, followed by a panel discussion with Virginia Tech faculty members and their experiences with publishing and OA. 

Open Access Week Keynote: “Counting what counts in recruitment, promotion and tenure”

What we reward through recruitment, promotion and tenure processes is not always what we actually value about research activity. This talk explores how we can pursue value-led evaluations - and how we can persuade senior leaders of their benefits.