Direct comparison
ROR vs GRID — organisation identifiers compared
ROR (Research Organization Registry) is the current standard for organisation persistent identifiers; GRID was the precursor and is now read-only.
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | ROR | GRID (legacy) |
|---|---|---|
| Established | 2019 | 2015 |
| Status | Active, current standard | Read-only since Sep 2021; no new IDs minted |
| Governance | California Digital Library + Crossref + DataCite + open community | Digital Science (Holtzbrinck Group) |
| Format example | https://ror.org/02j61yw88 (Crockford32) | grid.498320.6 |
| Coverage | ~100,000 research organisations | ~99,000 (frozen) |
| Free + open | Yes — fully open, CC0 | Free at the point of use; proprietary structure |
| Active integrations | Crossref, DataCite, ORCID, OpenAlex, EU F&T Portal, dimensions.ai | Legacy integrations; being migrated |
| Migration path | Canonical successor — every GRID maps to a ROR | Read-only legacy; migrate references to ROR |
Common questions
FAQ
Should I use ROR or GRID for new systems?+
ROR. GRID is read-only; no new identifiers are being minted.
Can I look up the ROR for a given GRID?+
Yes — ROR publishes a GRID-to-ROR crosswalk file; ror.org/search resolves either.
