The Maldives National University (MNU) Library conducted an online ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) training session for MNU staff and students, aimed at strengthening researcher identity, scholarly visibility, and engagement with the global research community.

The session was facilitated by Professor Lasith Gunawardena, Professor at the Department of Information Technology, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, Sri Lanka, and a member of the ORCID Researcher Advisory Council (ORAC). 28 partcipated in the workshop session.

ORCID provides researchers with a unique and persistent digital identifier that enables their research outputs and scholarly activities to be accurately connected to their professional identity throughout their academic careers. The training covered persistent digital identifiers, research workflows, the benefits of ORCID iDs, and the complementary use of ORCID and Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs) to enhance the visibility, accessibility and discoverability of scholarly outputs.

Participants were also introduced to the importance of maintaining an accurate ORCID profile to connect publications and other research contributions, strengthen individual research profiles, and facilitate engagement within national and international scholarly networks.

MNU academic staff and researchers are encouraged to create and actively maintain their ORCID profiles as part of good scholarly practice. Greater adoption of persistent researcher identifiers can contribute to improved research visibility, knowledge dissemination and international research collaboration.

The initiative contributes to SDG 4 – Quality Education by strengthening research capacity and scholarly competencies; SDG 9 – Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure through the adoption of digital research infrastructure; and SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals by supporting greater connectivity, knowledge exchange and collaboration within the global research community.