ORCID

In August 2022, the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP) issued a memo: Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research (OSTP 2022 Nelson Memo), that directs federal agencies to update their public access policies per OSTP 2013 Holdren Memo.

The policies pertain to publications, scientific data underlying scholarly publications, and scientific and research integrity which includes identifiers for researchers. The good news is that the proposed policies for publications and scientific data mirror existing NIH policies.

For more information, please see the NIH Public Access Policy guide, or contact Cathy Sarli or Amy Suiter.

What is NSPM-33?

National Security Presidential Memorandum-33 was issued on January 14, 2021 by President Trump and then subsequently endorsed by President Biden. It's purpose is to strengthen protections of United States Government-supported Research and Development (R&D) against foreign government interference and exploitation. 

NSPM-33 Objectives:

• To enhance awareness of research security risks and protections.
• To improve disclosure requirements and processes.
• To limit access and participation with US government facilities through policies and processes
• To improve vetting processes of foreign students and researchers.
• To strengthen response measures with information sharing

How does NSPM-33 relate to ORCID?

One of NSPM-33 objectives is to improve/strengthen disclosure requirements and processes [Sec.4.Priorities (b)(v & vi)]. While ORCID is not mentioned specifically in the NSPM-33 memo, the memo does discuss use of Digital Persistent Identifiers (DPIs) for individuals. Currently ORCID is the only DPI for individuals that meets the requirements stipulated in the NSPM-33 guidance. A table illustrating this can be seen in the box below.

Implementation guidance for NSPM-33 was issued in January 2022 by the National Science and Technology Council. It includes a section specific to DPIs that begins on page 8 (pg 18 of pdf).  This guidance includes the following:

• Research agencies should work to implement DPIs into their electronic systems and processes as quickly as is feasible
• Research agencies should allow submission of required disclosure information via a DPI service
• Researcher maintains information...on an individual profile or record maintained by a DPI service and associated with a DPI
• During the grant application process, the individual: provides (his/her) DPI and via the DPI service, authenticates the DPI and authorizes the research agency to access the required information.
• To the greatest extent possible, research agencies should leverage DPI services provided by private entities, including, where possible, services already widely used by researchers.