There are several researcher and author profiles available to you. Here are some reasons why you should consider signing up for one (or more than one!):
1) Distinguish Your Works
2) Comply With Publisher and Funder Requirements
3) Demonstrate Your Impact
4) Build Your Network
Adapted from McMaster University's guide on Making an Impact: Tracking Your Research Metrics.
AUTHOR IDENTIFIERS:
ORCID: ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a persistent digital identifier number that distinguishes you from other researchers. See our ORCID page for more information.
SciENcv: NCBI's tool, Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv), makes it possible to automatically create a biosketch for either NIH or NSF by linking and pulling information from an eRA Commons or similar account (such as ORCID), as well as publications from My Bibliography. It is possible to make quick revisions to biosketches in SciENcv. More information about SciENcv can be found in your My NCBI account.
Web of Science Researchers: Web of Science Researcher profiles are algorithmically generated provide information on your publications, citation counts, and h-index. From the Web of Science Researchers page search for your name to locate your profile. If you have multiple profiles, merge duplicate accounts and claim your account for greater accuracy.
Scopus Author ID: Scopus Author IDs are automatically created by Scopus, an Elsevier database, during the indexing process. Once an author profile is in the system, publications will be added automatically. Scopus provides a robust suite of metrics and analytics to help you gauge your scholarly impact. Only publications indexed in Scopus will be included on your profile, so if you publish in journals that are excluded from Scopus, you may wish to look elsewhere. You should check Scopus to make sure the publications assigned to you are correct; use the Author Feedback Wizard correcting errors.
SEARCH ENGINES WITH AUTHOR PROFILES:
Google Scholar: Google Scholar is the most widely used profiling tool for scholarly research, and it's the first place many researchers go when looking for specific works. In order to differentiate yourself from similarly-named authors, you need to create a Google Scholar profile and check which publications were authored by you. Once you do this, Google Scholar will display your profile with a few sets of metrics. Publications displayed on your profile include scholarly articles, book chapters, books, and reports. Sign up with Google scholar to create your profile, click "My Citations," then follow the instructions to add/remove publications that do or do not belong to you.
SOCIAL NETWORKS FOR RESEARCHERS:
Mendeley: Mendeley is an Elsevier-owend reference management tool and social network. You can obtain readership statistics, find potential collaborators, and share your works with a global audience. Sign up with Mendeley for a free account.
ResearchGate: ResearchGate is a large social network that links researchers around similar topics. It is popular among GW faculty and students as a tool to find collaborators and to read other scholars' works. Please note that many of the publications that are available through ResearchGate have been uploaded illegally and violate publisher open access policy. Be advised that uploading publications to ResearchGate may entail a breach of publisher policy.
Mendeley | Google Scholar | ORCID | ResearcherID | ScopusID | ResearchGate | Academia.edu | |
Publications List | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
Publications Links | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | ||
Publication Metrics | Y | Y | N | Y | Y | Y | N |
Social Media Links | N | N | N | N | N | Y | Y |
Bio, Interests, Affiliation | Y | Y | Y | Y | N | Y | Y |
Ability to Upload Papers | Y | N | N | N | N | Y | Y |
Add Publication Data Manually | Y | Y | Y | N | N | Y | Y |
Add Publication Data (Semi)Automatically | many search engines + import RIS or BibTeX | Google Scholar | CrossRef + Scopus + ResearcherID + DataCite + PubMedCentral Europe | Web of Science + ORCID | Scopus | PubMed + IEEE + CiteSeer + RepEc + BMC | CrossRef + PubMed + ArXiV |
Chart adapted from University of Utrecht Researcher Profiles guide: http://libguides.library.uu.nl/researchimpact/profiles