VU researcher
Researcher development programs and workshops related to managing your research profile are available under Research impact and dissemination.
When thinking about publishing your research, author identity is very important.
It is best to stick with one form of name. Once you have published, the University recommends using the author identifier system ORCID to bring all your publications under one name.
Beyond establishing a consistent author ID, it is good practice to use a social media tool to establish a researcher profile. This way, you can control your online presence and use it to your advantage (that is, to promote your research).
There are many different tools to choose from, consider which tool is popular within your field of research when deciding the option that is best for you.
Your publishing name
When publishing your research it is best to stick with one form of your name. This is so that all of your published material can be found in one search. Consider your form of name carefully when you first publish. For example, think about:
- Your given name. Do you usually go by a name other than the name on your passport?
- Your middle initial(s). Including a middle initial can be a good way to distinguish your work from somebody else with the same first initial and family name.
- Your family name. If you change your family name (e.g. by getting married) it is better to continue publishing under your original name.
When you choose what form of name to publish under choose something that you will be happy to use for the rest of your time in research.
VU Elements
VU Elements is your internal VU research profile. It is an automatic search and harvest tool for research outputs indexed by external publication data sources, such as Scopus, Web of Science, PubMed and ArXiv.
It is important to maintain your VU Elements profile and keep it up-to-date as your publication data for HERDC, ERA and MORA submissions will be reported through this system.
If you have any questions about updating your publications in VU Elements, please contact your College Librarian listed on the Library research support page.
ORCID – Open Researcher & Contributor ID
ORCID is an open, not-for-profit, community-based effort to provide a cross-platform registry of unique researcher identifiers.
The difference between ORCID and other author IDs is it enables automated linkages between a researcher's activities and their research outputs across the board e.g. publication databases and funding sources. As such, ORCID IDs are now being incorporated into different workflows.
Many publications and funders are now asking authors to supply their ORCID user, look for this option next time you make a submission.
Scopus Author ID
The Scopus Author Identifier feature allows researchers to accurately distinguish between publications written by people with similar names. Scopus assigns an Author ID to each author, assembling affiliations and publications based on the content of indexed articles and author feedback.
Check every few months that your publications indexed in Scopus are linked under the one author identifier. If not, you can send a request to merge authors.
Researcher profile tools
There are a wide range of researcher profile tools currently available and all have slightly different functionality. They can differentiate into:
- personal sites and social media such as Facebook, LinkedIn and academic blogs
- researcher communities such as Academia.edu and ResearchGate
- reference management tools with social functions such as Mendeley
- search engines with author profiles such as Google Scholar My Citations and Scopus
- university author profile pages.
Contact us
For assistance with managing your research profile at VU contact:
- VU Research Librarian or your College Librarian. Contact details are available on the Library research support page.
- Quest helpdesk at quest.servicedesk@vu.edu.au (for enquires related to managing your profile in VU Elements).
