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Set Up the ORCID Plugin

To use the plugin, you will first need to obtain either Public or Member ORCID API credentials (Client ID and Client Secret) and then configure the ORCID plugin in OJS/OPS with this information.

IMPORTANT: do not enable the plugin until you have the credentials and are ready to setup the plugin.

If you have previously collected ORCIDs manually prior to setting up the plugin, typos in the manually-entered ORCID field may cause errors. See the Troubleshooting section of this guide for more details.

Obtain Public API credentials #

See ORCID Integration Guide, and follow the instructions in: Registering Public API credentials.

Obtain Member API credentials #

Member API credentials are connected to an ORCID member organization. Your organization must be an ORCID member to request Member API credentials. If your journal is affiliated with an institution, contact the institution’s library to ask about ORCID membership and API credentials. You may also wish to check whether your organization belongs to a local consortium, as you may be able to receive help from the consortium. You can also contact ORCID directly at support@orcid.org.

To obtain your Member API credentials, see Registering a Member API Client.

Please note: When registering to receive Member API credentials, organizations are required to indicate the “Name of your client application”. When working with multiple journals as part of an OJS instance, the name used must be broad enough to serve as a source for all of the journals hosted on its instance(s), as the name is what will appear as the “source” of data when a work from OJS is written to an ORCID record (e.g. “ABC University journal hosting service”). However, if you plan to install only one journal in your domain and use ORCID for that journal, then the name of the client application can be indicated as the name of the journal.

ORCID redirect URIs #

When you register for ORCID API credentials, you will need to enter at least one Redirect URI, which is the journal location that your users will be sent to after authorizing OJS/OPS to connect to their ORCID record, The URI must begin with “https://” and include the link to the journal as part of the URI. For example:

  • This works (for example, for a multi-journal installation): https://example.com
  • This works (for a single journal): https://example.com/index.php/testJournal
  • This does NOT work: https://example.com/index.php/testJournal/index

The host option allows any URI under that host to be used as a Redirect URI. In multiple journal instances, make sure you choose the base url of your domain and not individual journals to avoid redirect errors. For individual journals it is important to use the journal path without any trailing information, as per above.

Although there appears to be a limit of five redirects, you can add as many as you like to the “notes to ORCID” section.

If a URI needs to be updated, or new one(s) added:

Enable and configure the ORCID Profile plugin in OJS/OPS #

After you have obtained your Client ID and Client Secret from ORCID, you can enable and configure the plugin in OJS/OPS.

There are three potential scenarios for configuring the plugin, based on your use case:

  • If you have a single journal or preprint server installation, configure the plugin following the instructions below under Per Journal/Preprint Server Setup.
  • If you have a multi-journal or multi-preprint server installation, but you do not want to enable the ORCID plugin for every journal, configure each journal or preprint server separately following the instructions below under Per Journal/Preprint Server Setup, using the same ORCID API credentials (Client ID and Client Secret) for each.
  • If you have a multi-journal or multi-preprint server installation and want to enable the ORCID plugin for all site-wide, follow the instructions below under Site-wide Setup.

Per Journal/Preprint Server Setup #

If you want to enable the ORCID plugin for a single journal (OJS) or preprint server (OPS):

  1. When logged in to OJS/OPS as an administrator, go to Settings > Website > Plugins
  2. Under Installed Plugins find the ORCID plugin
  3. Check the checkbox to enable to plugin
  4. Click the blue arrow to the left of the plugin name to make “Settings” appear, then open Settings. Select your API type and enter your Client ID and Client Secret.

Setup for OJS ORCID plugin with Public client ID and secret entered.

Email Settings #

Under “E-Mail Settings” you can tick the checkbox to “Send e-mail to request ORCID authorization from authors when an article is accepted.” Instructions for modifying the emails sent to authors and be found in the Plugin Functionality section.

OJS ORCID plugin with checkbox checked to send email to request ORCID authorization from authors.

Remove unauthenticated ORCID iDs #

Once you activate the plugin, you will no longer be able to use unauthenticated ORCID iDs. This ensures that the metadata sent to ORCID.org is correct and authenticated. If you have submissions in-progress which already have manually-entered ORCID iDs, those articles will be prevented from publishing until the iDs are removed.

In order to remove an ORCID iD:

  • Navigate to the Submission’s Contributor tab
  • Edit the individual Contributor
  • Scroll down to the ORCID heading and check the checkbox: “Delete ORCID iD and access token!”

![OJS ORCID plugin with checkbox checked to delete ORCID iD and access token.].(/assets/how_to_delete_unauthenticated_ORCID.PNG)

Site-wide Setup #

For multi-journal and multi-preprint server installations the plugin can be set site-wide in config.inc.php to enable the ORCID plugin for all journals. Note that site-wide settings through config.inc.php override any existing individual plugin settings. However, the plugin can be enabled/disabled on an individual basis for journals, and each journal can manage their own email settings as described above. Adding credentials in the config.inc.php hides the Client Secret from Journal/Server Managers, which may be preferred if you have institutional credentials for ORCID. Add the following section to your config.inc.php file:

Config settings in the OJS config file

Note that the api_url needs to end with a slash.