Lens Profiles are auto-generated author and inventor profiles that are based on the public ORCID record, and compiled from publicly available data sources using the ORCID iD as the linking identifier. Lens Profiles display all scholarly works and patents in the Lens that have been matched to a given ORCID iD.
Over 20M scholarly works in the Lens have been matched with their associated ORCID iDs where; (1) the ORCID iD has been disclosed in our scholarly data sources (i.e. CrossRef and PubMed), or (2) a match on the ORCID work and author name could be made by the Lens team. For a given ORCID iD, these matched works are then combined with those in the public ORCID record if the works can be matched to a Lens scholarly work or patent. Finally, we combine this information with any claimed scholarly works or patents that users have recorded inventorship and authorship in the Lens. Aggregating all this data provides a comprehensive list of all the Lens scholarly works and patents for an author’s / inventor’s Lens Profile.
N.B. Profiles may not include all works associated with an ORCID record as not all works may be available in the Lens (e.g. presentations, datasets, non-research publications, etc.).

Summary stats based on the Lens works are presented on the profile and include counts of scholarly works/patents, citations, and the H-index based on scholarly citations in the Lens. This information is combined with publicly available biographic and career information from the ORCID record (e.g. personal biography, employment, education, links, aliases, etc.), online mentions of the author or inventor’s work from ImpactStory (e.g. blog posts, Wikipedia pages, Facebook posts, etc.), and other co-authors with an ORCID iD. Lens users that have linked their ORCID account also have the option to display their public collections and profile picture on their profiles if they choose.
What is ORCID?
ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier (an ORCID iD) that you own and control, and that distinguishes you from every other researcher. You can connect your iD with your career information including education, employment, funding, publications, peer review, and more.
ORCID is a non-profit organization that provides a fully open and interoperable identifier, the Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID iD), to reliably connect researchers with their research contributions. Upon registering and establishing a unique ORCID iD in the ORCID registry hub, researchers distinguish their ORCID record with relevant information about their career, education, employment, funding, publications, and more. Currently, there are more than 9.7M live ORCID iDs throughout the global research community, and several member institutions are mandating the use of ORCID iDs to identify and link their researcher’s with their works.
The Lens has long been a supporter of ORCID and has worked with the organization for years. To support ORCID and the research community, we have developed a suite of ORCID-related features and functionality to help users enrich their ORCID records. ORCID records are not officially profiles, but authenticated, persistent user-controlled records of metadata that are associated with a person. This metadata is extremely useful to construct a rich, navigable and shareable profile that is much more than structured metadata alone.
Our goal in integrating ORCID public data into what we call a Lens Profile is to serve a facility that not only makes creation, editing, synchronizing and updating your ORCID record an easy and simple task, but also allows you to create a powerful and shareable ‘Curriculum Vitae’ that has embedded evidence-driven metrics, citation information, and related open knowledge that are not currently part of an ORCID record.
Locations
Profile Search
There are several locations you can search for an author’s or inventor’s Lens Profile:
- Search for authors and inventors with an ORCID iD from the Lens Profiles page to view their Lens Profile on the Lens. The page can be accessed from the homepage and from the “Our Apps” drop-down menu in the main header menu.
- The Profiles tab on the structured search page (scholarly works and patent) also allows you to search for authors and inventors with an ORCID iD and view their Lens Profile.
- The Search drop-down menu in the work area sidebar also provides quick access to the Profiles tab on the the structured search page
- The “Profile Search” search modal also provides access to Lens Profiles and is accessible from the Search menu at the top right of the patent/scholar search app.


Profile Discovery
Author and Inventor profiles can also be discovered in context in these locations:
- The author and inventor tooltips on scholarly works and patents provide access to profiles for any author/inventor with an ORCID iD icon next to their name. The tooltips can be accessed by hovering over the author/inventor name in the summary tab of individual scholarly works and patents, or in the expanded view on the search results list.
- The Linked Profiles section on the summary tab of individual scholarly works and patents provides access to the profiles of any authors/inventors that have recorded their authorship or inventorship.
- The Prominent Author Profiles chart in the analysis preview sidebar on the scholarly works results page lists the top authors with ORCID identifiers in the search. Clicking on an author in the chart will link through to their profile.
User Profiles
Registered users can access their own profile in the following locations:
- The Profile tab in the User Account area.
- The user account drop-down menu.
- The profile icon in the work area sidebar.
A user’s profile can also be accessed from a shared collection by clicking on their avatar or curator name in the collection header, if the user has made their profile public (see Managing Your Profile)

Anatomy of a Profile
Profile pages consist of 6 main sections.
Profile Header
The profile header includes the following components:
- The author/inventor’s profile picture for users that have Linked their ORCID account
- The author/inventor’s name and status check (ORCID linked profiles only)
- The profile status: ORCID Linked / Unlinked
- The author/inventor’s ORCID iD
- A Follow button to allow registered users to follow an author/inventor and receive alerts whenever new works/patents are added to their ORCID record.
- Links to the ORCID record, ImpactStory profile and sharing options.
Summary Stats

The Summary Stats box provides a dynamic summary of the author/inventor’s scholarly works and patents, providing immediate insight into their work output, and measures of their contribution based on total scholar and patent citations. The author’s H-Index is also calculated from Lens scholarly citations and is defined as the number of scholarly works (H) that have been cited at least H times. A summary of the top Fields of Study from the author’s scholarly works is also presented below the summary stats.
N.B. The H-index is based on the scholarly works associated with the author’s ORCID identifier and may not include all of the author’s work.
Histograms
The histograms show the author/inventor’s scholarly works and patents over time along with their citations trend in the orange line. The Scholar and Patents tabs allow you to toggle between the scholarly works and patent histograms.
N.B. The histograms will not be shown if there are insufficient scholarly works or patents to display a time series.

Employment, Education Co-Authors, Mentions, Aliases and Links

This section displays contextual information about the author/inventor including their employment, education, co-authors, name aliases, fundings and external links when such information is available. Biographic and career information are taken directly from the ORCID record (e.g. employment, education, links, aliases), while online mentions of the author or inventor’s work are sourced from ImpactStory (e.g. blog posts, Wikipedia pages, Facebook posts, etc.). Co-authors with an ORCID iD in the Lens are also displayed.
Personal Bio
This section is the personal biography for the author/inventor. Taken from the ORCID record, this section provides a brief biographical description of the author/inventor, including an overview of their career, areas of research interest, etc. and can be expanded to show more / less.

Scholarly Works, Patents and Collections
The Scholarly Works, Patents and Collections tabs at the bottom of each profile provide access to the list of works for the author/inventor, as well as the public collections for users who have linked their ORCID account and made their profiles public (see Managing Your Profile) The toolbar menus above the list of works provide an option for users to load the works in in the main search app to enable search, filtering and analysis. Users that have linked their ORCID accounts will see additional toolbar options to find more of their works, record their authorship or invetorship and manage their profiles.

How to Use
Lens Profiles provide a number of features and functionality that can be used by registered users. Some of these features and profile functionality require users to Link their ORCID account. This is a requirement if you want to use The Lens to claim authorship/inventorship of your work and sync it to your ORCID record.
Profile Linking

Profiles can be “claimed” by Lens users who link their ORCID account with their Lens account via Linked Services. Linking your ORCID account allows you to sign into The Lens using your ORCID account and update your ORCID record, and requires the the following permissions to make The Lens a trusted organisation for your ORCID account:
- Read your ORCID record: This will allow us to retrieve your ORCID record details to display on your profile.
- Add and update works: This will allow you to easily add any of your patents or scholarly works to your ORCID record.
Linking an ORCID account allows you to sync work items to your ORCID record and display them on your Profile, with privacy controls to expose/hide your published collections, profile image and any patents or scholarly works you have recorded authorship/inventorship and aren’t part of your public ORCID record, see Managing Your Profile.

Recording Authorship and Inventorship
There are two main ways an author/inventor can claim their work, authorship or inventorship can be recorded on an individual scholarly work / patent, or “bulk claimed” from your profile page. This section focuses on bulk claim, while recording authorship and inventorship on individual scholarly works and patents is covered in the Recording Inventorship and Authorship support post.
N.B. In order to record authorship, users must be logged in and have linked their ORCID account via the Linked Services.
Bulk Claim
A bulk claim “wizard” has been implemented on profiles for guiding users to record authorship and inventorship on all their works. The bulk claim wizard can be launched from the Find more of my works
button in the toolbar. The bulk claim is performed in three steps:

- Name Lookup: In this step, you will need to enter your name as it appears on your ORCID profile. Please ensure that your name is at least five characters long and includes both your first and last names. This will enable the system to match your name with the author names on your works and provide you with a list of your author name variants.
- Name Variants: Upon completion of the previous step, you will be presented with a list of author name variants that match your name. Along with this list, you will also see the number of unclaimed works associated with the name variant. It is important to carefully review this list and select all variants of your name that accurately represent you as an author. Once you have made your selections, click ‘Next’ to proceed to the next step and review your works.
- Review Work: In this step, you will be presented with a list of all the unclaimed works that are associated with the name variants you selected in the previous step. It is important to carefully review this list and verify that the selected works are indeed yours by checking the checkbox provided next to each work. Once you have reviewed and verified your authorship, you can proceed to record your authorship by clicking on the “Record Authorship” button. This will ensure that the scholarly works are added to your ORCID record and can be easily accessed by others.
N.B The steps are same for claiming the Patents as well. Only 100 works/patents can be claimed at a time. Please rerun “Find more of my works” to claim your additional works/patents.
The bulk claim wizard can be initiated in two ways:
- When you access your profile after linking your ORCID account, the bulk claim wizard will automatically appear above the list of Scholarly Works if you have any works associated with your ORCID record that you have not yet recorded authorship for. The wizard selects all unclaimed works associated with your ORCID iD and automatically matches your name against the author names on your works to provide a list of your author name variants. All claimed works will appear greyed out in the list below your Unclaimed works. Review the selected works to ensure they are yours and then select all your author name variants and record your authorship by clicking Record Authorship.
- You can also use the bulk claim wizard to “Find more of my works” from your profile by clicking the button in the toolbar above your list of scholarly works or patents. This wizard will launch a guided process to find more of your works that are not associated with their ORCID record, and allow you to review the matches and record your authorship/inventorship. Your name will automatically be entered when you launch the wizard. Click next to find all works with similar name matches and select the name variants that apply and click next. Review the matching scholarly works or patents to ensure they are yours and click Record Authorship.

Once you have recorded your authorship/inventorship, your “Claimed Work” can be viewed in your Work Area, with separate tabs for Inventorship and Authorship. Users can also re-sync all of their claimed work from the Claimed Work tab in the user Work Area using the “Sync with ORCID” action available in the Set Actions box. This action will re-sync your claimed works and update the records on your ORCID record with any updated metadata.

Following Authors and Inventors
Profiles also provide functionality for registered users to “Follow” an author or inventor, allowing you to receive alerts whenever they publish new patents or scholarly works linked to their ORCID record. Following an author/inventor can be done from a profile page by clicking the “Follow” button in the top right corner of the profile banner. This will add custom “Follow” saved queries to your account with alerts enabled so you can be notified when new works are available from the following author/inventor. Follow saved queries can be managed from the Saved Queries tab in your work area.

Editing and Management
Managing Your Profile
While Lens Profiles are auto-generated based on public data, linking your ORCID account provides an additional level of control over your profile and privacy, allowing you to expose or hide your published collections, profile image and any patents or scholarly works you have recorded authorship/inventorship and aren’t part of your public ORCID record. This setting can be adjusted in the privacy section of your account settings.
