A Web of Science Researcher Profile is a personal, claimed page on Clarivate’s Web of Science platform containing a verified publication list, citation metrics, and (where applicable) a peer review and editorial record. It merges the older ResearcherID identifier (2008) and Publons peer-review tracking service (acquired by Clarivate in 2017), fully integrated into Web of Science by 2022.
For the separate task of finding and disambiguating an author’s records in the first place, see CASRAI’s Web of Science Author Search guide. For Advanced Search syntax and field tags, see How to Search Web of Science Effectively. For what Web of Science is as a platform, see the Web of Science dictionary entry.
Researcher Profile vs. Author Record: The Core Distinction
Web of Science produces two different kinds of researcher-level page, and confusing them is the most common mistake when evaluating a publication list:
- Author Record — an algorithmically-assembled grouping of publications the platform’s matching software judges likely to belong to one person, based on signals like co-author overlap, subject area, and affiliation history. Nobody has confirmed it. It is a well-informed guess, not a verified record.
- Researcher Profile — a page the researcher (or someone acting with their authorization) has actively claimed, reviewed, and corrected. Publications have been confirmed as theirs, mistaken attributions removed, and identity anchored to a persistent identifier.
The practical difference matters for anyone relying on the list for something consequential: a tenure dossier, a funder-mandated bio-sketch, or a due-diligence check on a collaborator’s track record. An unclaimed Author Record should be treated as a starting point to verify, not a final answer; a claimed and actively maintained Researcher Profile is the stronger signal.
From ResearcherID and Publons to Researcher Profile
The current Researcher Profile is the product of two consolidations, not one:
- 2008 — Thomson Reuters (predecessor to Clarivate) launched ResearcherID as a standalone author-identifier service, giving each registered researcher a unique ID and a basic publication list.
- 2017 — Clarivate acquired Publons, a separate platform that let researchers track and get credit for peer review and editorial work.
- 2019 — Clarivate integrated ResearcherID into Publons: existing ResearcherID numbers were carried over and attached to the corresponding Publons profile, and new Publons sign-ups were assigned a ResearcherID automatically.
- 2022 — Publons was fully merged into the core Web of Science platform and renamed the Web of Science Researcher Profile, bringing publications, citation metrics, and the peer-review/editorial record together in one place rather than two separate products.
The ResearcherID itself did not disappear — it persists as the underlying identifier behind a Researcher Profile, and older ResearcherID-format links and citations still resolve to the corresponding profile.
What’s on a Researcher Profile
A claimed profile is organized into several sections, though not every section is populated for every researcher — a profile can exist with only a publication list if a researcher has no tracked peer review or editorial activity:
- Publications — the researcher’s confirmed list of indexed articles, drawn from and reconciled against Web of Science Author Records.
- Metrics — citation-based indicators computed from that confirmed publication list, typically including total citations and h-index; researchers who appear on Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers list may see that recognition reflected here.
- Peer Review record — verified review activity, carried over from Publons, for reviewers who opt in with participating journals.
- Editor record — verified editorial-board or handling-editor activity, for researchers who serve in that capacity and choose to track it.
- Identity and affiliation information — name, current and past institutional affiliations, and a link to a connected ORCID iD where one has been added.
Clarivate has noted that not every legacy Publons feature migrated at the same pace as the core profile itself; a profile’s exact layout and available fields can continue to shift as the platform evolves, so treat the list above as the general shape rather than a fixed specification.
How to Claim and Verify a Profile
Claiming turns an unverified Author Record into a maintained Researcher Profile. The general process:
- Sign in or register for a Web of Science / Clarivate account, either directly or by signing in with an existing ORCID iD.
- Search for your own name using Author Search (see CASRAI’s Web of Science Author Search guide for the full workflow) to locate the Author Record(s) that represent your publications.
- Claim the matching record(s), confirming which publications are genuinely yours and flagging or removing any that were pulled in by mistake through a name collision.
- Link an ORCID iD if one exists. Linking allows metadata to flow between the two systems and gives future disambiguation a stronger anchor than name-matching alone.
- Review and set visibility for the profile before it is complete — see the privacy section below.
A researcher who already has an ORCID iD populated with their publication history can typically speed up claiming by signing in through ORCID rather than starting from an unclaimed Author Record.
Privacy and Visibility
A Researcher Profile has adjustable visibility: a researcher can choose to make the profile publicly viewable (so it can be linked to, cited in a bio, or found by others searching Web of Science) or keep it more restricted. Because a public profile becomes the researcher’s canonical, citable identity page on the platform, most researchers who claim one set it to public — the entire value of claiming is being findable and verifiable, which a hidden profile undermines. Institutions that encourage faculty to maintain Researcher Profiles for reporting or promotion purposes typically recommend public visibility for the same reason.
Researcher Profile vs. ORCID iD
These are related but separate systems, and conflating them is a common error:
- A Web of Science Researcher Profile (and the ResearcherID behind it) is a Clarivate-proprietary identifier and profile, specific to the Web of Science ecosystem.
- An ORCID iD is a non-proprietary, publisher-and-funder-agnostic persistent identifier, governed by the nonprofit ORCID organization and used across the broader scholarly ecosystem — not just Web of Science. See CASRAI’s How to Register, Find, and Search for ORCID iDs guide for how ORCID iDs themselves work.
The two are designed to interoperate, not compete: a Researcher Profile can be linked to an ORCID iD, and Clarivate supports metadata exchange between them (a researcher’s verified Web of Science peer review record, for instance, can be set to auto-export to their ORCID record). Many research administrators treat a linked ORCID iD as the more durable identifier of the two, since it travels with the researcher across publishers, funders, and platforms rather than being anchored to one vendor’s system — while still recommending researchers maintain both, since each is authoritative for different downstream uses (a funder may want the ORCID iD; a Web of Science-based bibliometric report will draw on the Researcher Profile).
Why It Matters for Research Administration
A claimed, accurate Researcher Profile is not just a convenience for the individual researcher. It is the input that faculty activity reporting systems, tenure and promotion committees, and institutional bibliometric analyses draw on when a Web of Science-sourced publication list or citation count is required. An unclaimed, uncorrected Author Record propagates any name-collision errors or missed publications straight into that downstream reporting, which is why many institutions include profile claiming and maintenance as a standing recommendation — sometimes a requirement — alongside ORCID registration in researcher onboarding and annual reporting processes.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Web of Science Researcher Profile?
It is a personal, claimed page on the Web of Science platform containing a researcher’s verified publication list, citation metrics, and (where applicable) peer review and editorial record. It is the modern, merged successor to the older separate ResearcherID and Publons products.
Is a Researcher Profile the same as ResearcherID?
Not exactly. ResearcherID is the underlying identifier — the unique ID number itself, introduced in 2008. The Researcher Profile is the current page built around that identifier, now including publications, metrics, and peer-review/editor data that ResearcherID alone never displayed.
What happened to Publons?
Publons, the peer-review tracking service Clarivate acquired in 2017, was integrated with ResearcherID in 2019 and then fully merged into the core Web of Science platform in 2022, becoming the Web of Science Researcher Profile. The Publons brand and separate site were retired as part of that merger.
How do I claim my Web of Science Researcher Profile?
Sign in or register for a Web of Science account (directly or via ORCID sign-in), search for your name using Author Search, claim the Author Record(s) that represent your work, correct any misattributed publications, and link your ORCID iD if you have one.
Is a Web of Science Researcher Profile the same as an ORCID iD?
No. A Researcher Profile is a Clarivate-proprietary identity and metrics page specific to Web of Science. An ORCID iD is a non-proprietary identifier maintained by the nonprofit ORCID organization and used across publishers, funders, and platforms generally. The two can be linked so metadata flows between them, but they are separate systems.
Does claiming a Researcher Profile change my Author Record?
Yes. Claiming confirms which publications genuinely belong to you and lets you correct misattributions, which materially improves how reliably future searches and Author Search results represent your actual publication history, instead of relying entirely on algorithmic name-matching.
