This is a living document that will be updated over time as more details about NSPM-33-related policies become available. Last updated: April 26, 2023.
In January 2021, the White House released a National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM-33) on United States (US) Government-Supported Research and Development National Security Policy. NSPM-33 directs Federal agencies conducting research and/or awarding research funds to establish policies related to the use of Digital Persistent Identifiers (DPIs, also known as Persistent Identifiers (PIDs)) for researchers’ disclosure of information during funding application and reporting workflows. Disclosures include, but are not limited to, information about past and current affiliations/employment, funding support, and positions.
A year after the release of the memo, the National Science and Technology Council’s Guidance for Implementing NSPM-33 was released in January 2022. This guidance provides additional information on the implementation of PIDs for individuals as it relates to NSPM-33 (see page 8 of the Guidance). It also describes how to incorporate DPIs/PIDs in disclosure processes (see page 5 of the Guidance for details).
Although ORCID is not mentioned specifically in the NSPM-33 memo, ORCID is currently the only PID for individuals that meets the requirements stipulated in the NSPM-33 guidance.
As of Spring/Summer 2022, Federal agencies are still in the process of creating their DPI policies. The ORCID US Community expects that all Federal agencies will begin to allow grant applicants to use ORCID for transferring disclosure information during the grant application process, and some agencies may choose to require that ORCID be used. Additionally, the August 2022 White House Office of Science and Technical Policy (OSTP) memo on “Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research” reiterates that Federal funding agencies should “instruct federally funded researchers to obtain a digital persistent identifier that meets the common/core standards of a digital persistent identifier service defined in the NSPM-33 Implementation Guidance” for inclusion in published research outputs. In anticipation, it is recommended that research organizations take action to make sure that affiliated researchers are prepared to use ORCID to their advantage when applying for funding from Federal agencies and publishing federally funded research.
Keeping Track of NSPM-33: How to stay updated?
The ORCID US Community is keeping track of developments on NSPM-33. We will provide updates as we hear them, as well as compile and present relevant resources. The following resources are available to date:
- In March 2022, we hosted a community call titled “ORCID & National Security Presidential Memo 33 (NSPM-33),” featuring guest speaker Lori Schultz, Assistant Vice President, Research Intelligence at University of Arizona and a current ORCID Board Member. To stream the recording of this community call, please contact us at orcidus@lyrasis.org.
- In July 2022, we presented a webinar titled “ORCID & NSPM-33,” with speakers from the University of Florida (UF). UF integrated their grant funding data with ORCID in preparation for potential changes in federal grant funding applications and grant management as a result of NSPM-33 policies. Watch the “ORCID & NSPM-33” webinar recording or read the UF case study.
- In August 2022, the White House Office of Science and Technical Policy (OSTP) memo on “Ensuring Free, Immediate, and Equitable Access to Federally Funded Research” reiterates that Federal funding agencies should “instruct federally funded researchers to obtain a digital persistent identifier that meets the common/core standards of a digital persistent identifier service defined in the NSPM-33 Implementation Guidance” for inclusion in published research outputs.
- In September 2022, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released their Scientific Information Policy for the Science Mission Directorate (SMD) specifying that an ORCID iD is required for SMD-funded investigators.
- In December 2022, the National Science Foundation (NSF) released a Research Security Toolkit that mentions Digital Persistent Identifiers, with an overview of the Toolkit that references NSPM-33.
- In January 2023, the NSF released their Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) indicating that an ORCID iD is optional for senior personnel in Biographical Sketches and Current and Pending Support disclosure.
- In March 2023, ORCID published a blog post titled ORCID Poised to Support Research Institutions in New Era of Public Access and Research Security. This post outlined how ORCID can help facilitate compliance with NSPM-33 and the OSTP memo.
For upcoming events, we will send announcements via our members-only discussion forum and publicly available listserv, and post on the ORCID US Community events calendar.
Preparing for NSPM-33 & ORCID: What can we do?
This guide outlines considerations and suggestions for how to prepare for potential guidelines related to ORCID for individuals as presented in the National Security Presidential Memorandum – 33 (NSPM-33). You can also download the guide by clicking this link: NSPM-33 Guide.
Institutions can support researchers by ensuring that researchers know what ORCID is, have their ORCID iDs with information populated in their ORCID records, and understand how using ORCID can benefit them. Institutions that are ORCID members can use the ORCID member application programming interface (API) to add authoritative information to researchers’ ORCID records, so that researchers can more easily use the information in their ORCID records to populate biographical and disclosure forms during Federal funding application processes (such as importing data from ORCID into SciENcv for NIH and NSF biosketches).
NSPM-33 & ORCID Preparation Checklist:
Step 1: ORCID Membership
Check to see if your organization is already an ORCID member (there may be others at your organization already working with ORCID)
If yes, find out who is already involved by reaching out internally (for example, at universities, most libraries are already aware of ORCID and working to increase adoption) or email us (orcidus@lyrasis.org) to find out who the current ORCID contacts are
If no, consider joining the ORCID US open listserv to stay in the loop, and email us (orcidus@lyrasis.org) to ask about potential membership
Resources to Check:
To see if your organization is already a member of ORCID, check the List of ORCID Member Organizations and the List of ORCID US Community Member Organizations
To learn about the benefits of ORCID membership for research organizations, visit our ORCID US Membership Page and watch our webinar recording on ORCID Membership Benefits for Non-profit Organizations
Step 2: Stakeholder Support
Coordinate with other stakeholders at your organization to strategize about ORCID integration and adoption (consider forming a committee with executives and staff from different stakeholder units)
Library
Research Office
Sponsored Programs
Central IT
Academic Departments
Etc.
Resources to Check:
For an overview of ORCID adoption considerations, consult our ORCID US Planning Guide
For talking points on the basics of ORCID see our Value of ORCID one-pager
For suggestions on how to approach other stakeholders at your organization, read our blog on Partnering with Internal Stakeholders to Adopt ORCID
Step 3: Technical Integration
Take inventory of which institutional systems, platforms, or databases could potentially be leveraged to write data to researchers’ ORCID records via the ORCID member API
Research Information Management
Grants Management
Publishing or Repository Systems
HR Systems or Central ID Management
Etc.
Resources to Check:
To find out whether the ORCID API is already built-in to your organizational systems, check our list of Common Systems for ORCID Integration
To learn more about how the ORCID API works, read our ORCID API Basics one-pager and watch our webinar recording on the ORCID API Basics & Benefits
To get an idea of the types of information that can be written to ORCID records, see our ORCID Data Fields Page
If you’d like to do a custom ORCID API integration, check out our ORCID Custom Integration Guide
For examples of how other institutions have used ORCID, see our ORCID US Exemplars and Case Studies
If your systems are not already integrated with ORCID and you do not have the resources to do a custom integration, consider using the ORCID Affiliation Manager tool to write affiliations to ORCID records
For more information about how to write data to ORCID records, see our blog post on Writing Data to ORCID Records
Step 4: Outreach
Educate researchers about ORCID
Do researchers have their ORCID iDs?
Do researchers have information in their ORCID records?
Do researchers understand how ORCID can benefit them?
Resources to Check:
To get an idea of the benefits of ORCID for researchers, visit ORCID’s ORCID for Researchers Page
For an overview of ORCID Outreach ideas, check out our ORCID US Community Outreach Planning Guide and our Outreach Resources
To help researchers understand how they can use ORCID, read our blogs on Presenting the Value of ORCID to Researchers and ORCID & SciENcv