The Maldives National University (MNU) Library conducted an ORCID iD awareness and training session for MNU academic staff and researchers on 7 April 2025, with the participation of 68 staff members. The session formed part of the library’s continuing efforts to strengthen research capacity, scholarly visibility, and good research practices across the university.
The session introduced participants to ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) and the growing importance of persistent digital identifiers within the global research and scholarly communication environment. ORCID provides researchers with a unique and persistent digital identifier that distinguishes them from other researchers and enables their scholarly contributions to remain connected to them throughout their academic careers.
The training was facilitated with the support of distinguished academics and ORCID representatives, including Professor Lasith Gunawardena, from the Department of Information Technology and a member of the ORCID Researcher Advisory Council (ORAC), and Professor K. P. Lalith Chandralal, Professor in Marketing at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka.
Key areas covered during the session included:
The role of persistent digital identifiers in research and scholarly workflows;
The benefits of maintaining an ORCID iD for academics and researchers;
Linking research publications and other scholarly outputs to an individual researcher profile;
Improving the visibility, accessibility, and discoverability of research through persistent identifiers, including ORCID iDs and Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs);
Using ORCID to distinguish researchers with similar names and maintain connections to scholarly work despite changes in name or institutional affiliation; and
The increasing importance of ORCID iDs in research publishing and scholarly communication.
An ORCID iD can connect researchers with a wide range of scholarly contributions, including journal articles, dissertations, datasets, patents, and other research outputs. By maintaining an accurate ORCID profile, researchers can strengthen the discoverability of their work and establish a consistent research identity across institutions, publishers, and research platforms.
MNU Library sincerely appreciates the expertise and guidance provided by the facilitators and their contribution towards strengthening awareness of international research practices within the university.
MNU academic staff and researchers are encouraged to create, maintain, and actively use their ORCID iDs to strengthen their professional research identity, improve the visibility of their scholarly contributions, and enhance the discoverability and impact of MNU research at national and international levels.
