Elsevier, Wiley and Taylor & Francis now authenticate authors’ ORCID iDs directly inside their manuscript submission platforms — Editorial Manager and ScholarOne Manuscripts — using ORCID’s own OAuth login rather than a free-text field, so the iD attached to a manuscript is cryptographically verified, not merely typed in.
An ORCID iD is a free, persistent 16-character digital identifier, formatted as four groups of four digits (for example 0000-0002-1825-0097), that uniquely and permanently distinguishes a researcher across publications, grants, peer review and institutional systems.
For editorial offices, ORCID information in an Elsevier submission means exactly this authenticated identifier pulled live from ORCID’s registry during login — not a self-reported number a corresponding author could mistype, reuse from a colleague, or fabricate. The same authentication model, with platform-specific variations, now runs across the manuscript-submission systems used by most major scholarly publishers.
What is ORCID information at manuscript submission?
ORCID information at submission is the authenticated iD, plus whatever profile fields the author has chosen to make public, that a submission system retrieves through a live handshake with the ORCID registry. The process uses three-legged OAuth 2.0: the author is redirected to orcid.org, logs in with their own ORCID credentials, and explicitly authorises the publisher’s system to read (and, in some workflows, update) their record.
Because the connection is authenticated rather than typed, the submission system stores a verified link, not a claim. This distinguishes ORCID data from most other manuscript metadata, which is still self-reported by authors at submission.
How does Elsevier’s Editorial Manager verify ORCID iDs?
Elsevier’s journals run on Editorial Manager, a platform built by Aries Systems and used across thousands of journals from multiple publishers, not Elsevier alone. Authors can register for or log into Editorial Manager using their ORCID credentials via a “Use my ORCID” single sign-on option, which authenticates the iD automatically and populates the submitting author’s profile.
Editorial Manager also supports optional co-author verification: each listed co-author can receive an email asking them to confirm authorship and link their own ORCID iD to the manuscript record, rather than the corresponding author entering identifiers on their behalf. Several ScienceDirect journals now state in their guides for authors that an ORCID iD is required, or strongly encouraged, for every listed author at submission.
How do Wiley and Taylor & Francis use ScholarOne for ORCID authentication?
Wiley and a large share of Taylor & Francis and Routledge journals run on ScholarOne Manuscripts, a submission platform owned by Clarivate. Authors connect ORCID from their account settings — under the “Email/Name” section — where they can either register for a new ORCID iD or associate an existing one via ORCID’s authentication window. ScholarOne also supports ORCID single sign-on, so returning authors can log in with their ORCID credentials instead of a separate ScholarOne password.
Some Taylor & Francis and Routledge journals additionally run on Editorial Manager, where the same “edit my account” ORCID linking process applies. Once linked, the author’s ORCID iD is attached to the manuscript record and, on acceptance, published on the first page of the article.
Other major publishers follow comparable patterns. The American Chemical Society requires corresponding authors to supply a validated ORCID iD in its ACS Paragon Plus submission environment, a policy ACS extended to new submissions from January 2020.
| Publisher(s) | Submission platform | Platform vendor | ORCID login method | Typical policy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elsevier and journal partners | Editorial Manager | Aries Systems | ORCID single sign-on + account link | Required or encouraged, journal-dependent |
| Wiley | ScholarOne Manuscripts | Clarivate | Account-settings link + ORCID SSO | Encouraged; required by some journals |
| Taylor & Francis / Routledge | ScholarOne Manuscripts or Editorial Manager | Clarivate / Aries Systems | Account-settings link, platform-dependent | Encouraged; trialled as required on select titles |
| American Chemical Society | ACS Paragon Plus | ACS (ScholarOne-derived) | Validated iD at account setup | Required for corresponding authors since Jan 2020 |
Why are journals mandating ORCID, and what should editorial offices check?
Journals are moving from encouraging to requiring ORCID because a typed name field cannot resolve author-name ambiguity, cannot survive institutional affiliation changes, and cannot be checked automatically against prior submissions or peer-review history. An authenticated ORCID iD solves all three at the point of submission, which is why the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors recommends that journals require an ORCID iD from the corresponding author, at minimum, and encourage one from every listed author.
A configuration detail that most publisher-support pages omit: ORCID’s Works API has, since 2022, supported structured contributor-role data aligned to the CRediT taxonomy, so an authenticated ORCID connection at submission can carry role information forward, not just identity. CASRAI originated the CRediT contributor role taxonomy in 2014; the standard is now stewarded by NISO as ANSI/NISO Z39.104-2022. Editorial offices configuring CRediT role collection alongside ORCID authentication should confirm their submission system passes both together, since the two are commonly configured as separate, disconnected steps.
Editorial offices configuring or auditing an integration should check the following:
- Whether the system requires ORCID for the corresponding author only, or for every listed author, and whether that policy is stated in the journal’s guide for authors.
- Whether co-author ORCID verification is enabled, and whether unverified co-authors block submission or merely trigger a reminder email.
- Whether the ORCID connection is refreshed at each submission or persists as a stored token that could go stale after an author changes their trusted-organisation permissions on orcid.org.
- Whether authorship and contributor-role fields are captured through the same authenticated step as the ORCID iD, or as a separate, unverified free-text field.
- Whether the journal’s guide for authors and its submission-system configuration state the same policy — mismatches between “encouraged” copy and “required” system logic are a common source of author complaints.
Frequently asked questions
What is ORCID information in an Elsevier submission?
It is the authenticated ORCID iD and associated profile data retrieved directly from the ORCID registry when an author logs into Editorial Manager via ORCID single sign-on. It is verified at source, not a self-typed identifier the author enters manually.
How do I link my ORCID iD to Elsevier’s Editorial Manager?
In Editorial Manager, open “Edit My Account,” locate the ORCID field, and select the option to register for a new iD or connect an existing one. The author is redirected to ORCID.org to log in and authorise the connection before returning to Editorial Manager.
How do I get an ORCID iD?
Registration is free at orcid.org and takes under a minute: an author supplies their name and email, sets a password, and chooses a visibility setting. The 16-digit iD is issued immediately and can then be linked to any submission system.
Do journals require an ORCID iD to submit a manuscript?
Requirements vary by journal rather than by publisher as a whole. Many titles require a validated ORCID iD from the corresponding author and encourage one from co-authors, while a smaller but growing number, including several ACS journals, mandate it for every listed author.
Implications for research integrity
Authenticated ORCID connections give editorial offices something a typed name field never could: a machine-checkable link between a manuscript, an author’s verified publication history, and — where CRediT roles are also captured — their specific contribution. That combination is what underpins reliable retraction tracking, funder compliance reporting, and cross-publisher author disambiguation.
As more submission systems tie ORCID authentication to mandatory fields rather than optional ones, the practical risk shifts from author identity fraud toward configuration drift: journals whose stated policy and system logic diverge, or whose co-author verification is enabled but silently ignored. Editorial offices that audit their integration against the checklist above close that gap before it produces a correction, not after.
