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Persistent identifiers for researchers and authors

A personal persistent identifier (PID) for an author is a way to connect publications to a researcher in a durable way.

What is a personal persistent identifier (PID)?

Personal persistent identifiers are a way to collect publications and make them findable based on author or originator, without risk of confusing originators with similar names or information. It is also a method to make sure that publications stay gathered and connected to one and the same person, regardless of name changes, organisational changes or moving on to new workplaces.

When connected to a person, a persistent identifier falls under the category of a personal identifier or personal data, that is, information or data that can be used to identify a unique person. Sometimes, this is desirable. However, sometimes such information is considered sensitive and need to be adequately protected.

There are different models for personal identifiers. In the university publication database DiVA, two varieties are supported: ORCID and Umu-id.


ORCID (Open Researcher & Contributor ID) is constructed as a register over unique identification codes for individual researchers and contributors. The researcher or contributor themselves register on the ORCID homepage. It is important that each individual only have and use one ORCID, in order for the identifier to work as intended. The ORCID model provide globally unique identifiers and fully qualify as a persistent identifier. 


Areas of use

ORCID is a well-established, internationally viable, PID used by a range of publishers and channels for scholarly communication. Supplying an ORCID is obligatory when making use of the application system Prisma to apply for funding from Forte, Formas and the Swedish research council (Vetenskapsrådet, VR). Several other external financers, databases and platforms for scholarly communication also make use of ORCID. The purpose of an ORCID is to increase dissemination of publications. It gains on being publicly and generously shared, as it almost serve as a business card.


ORCID is constructed as a 16-digit number, separated by dashes, for example: 0000-0000-0000-0000

Often, the number is combined with a link, for example:


Fill in ORCID when registering a publication in DiVA.

Contact the library in case there are previous publications registered in DiVA that lack ORCID. We can add that information to existing posts.

When contacting us in order to add ORCID to existing posts, please supply ORCID and Umu-id.


A unique Umu-id is assigned to each person affiliated with Umeå university. The Umu-id should always be filled in when adding a publication to the DiVA database. Among other things, the Umu-id is a way to tie publications to unique originators within the university.

Umu-id is a local identifier and does not fully count as a persistent identifier. However, a person’s Umu-id is to be persistent within the organisation. A previous student who are hired by the university are to retain the same Umu-id that they had as a student. If suspecting that more than one Umu-id has been assigned to one and the same person, please contact the ITS service desk.

An Umu-id, among other things, is connected to logins to various services, and it is considered to be sensitive information to be handled with care. It should not be made public. As such, it differs from the ORCID.

ITS service desk

Umu-id and the list of publications on personal university webpages

On personal webpages within the university web, it is possible to add a list of publications. The list is generated by use of a person's Umu-id. If a publication is to be visible in the list, add it to the DiVA database and make sure to fill in the Umu-id. It is important to remember that when adding a publication to DiVA, the affiliation and institution are always to be the same as the one specified within the publication, regardless of where the author is currently active.