orcid-mcp-server

Get ORCID Researcher Affiliations

orcid_get_affiliations

Read-onlyIdempotent

Fetch affiliation records for an ORCID researcher. The types parameter controls which affiliation sections to return: employment, education, invited-positions, distinctions, memberships, qualifications, services, or all. Default is employment and education. Returns organization names, disambiguated organization identifiers (ROR/GRID/Ringgold), departments, roles, date ranges, and sources. Affiliations come from the researcher or from member organizations such as a university research information system; sources names who added each, and selfAsserted tells the two apart. Absence does not mean no affiliation.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`types`	No	Which affiliation types to return. Defaults to employment and education. Use ["all"] to get every section.
`orcid_id`	Yes	ORCID iD — bare (0000-0001-2345-6789) or as an orcid.org URI (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-2345-6789). The check digit may be X or x.

Output Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description
`error`	No	Present when the call failed. Absent on success.
`notice`	No	Note when no affiliations were found — they may be private, or neither the researcher nor a member organization added any.
`orcidId`	No	Normalized ORCID iD (bare format).
`orcidUri`	No	Full ORCID URI.
`affiliations`	No	Affiliation records for the requested types.
`requestedTypes`	No	Affiliation types that were requested.
`affiliationCount`	No	Total number of affiliation records returned.

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed5 schema fields changedOct 3, 2026

changedInput schema / properties / orcid_id / description

Previous value: -"ORCID iD — bare format (0000-0001-2345-6789) or full URI (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-2345-6789)."New value: +"ORCID iD — bare (0000-0001-2345-6789) or as an orcid.org URI (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-2345-6789). The check digit may be X or x."

changedInput schema / properties / orcid_id / pattern

Previous value: -"^(https?:\\/\\/orcid\\.org\\/)?\\d{4}-\\d{4}-\\d{4}-\\d{3}[\\dX]$"New value: +"^(?:(?:https?:\\/\\/)?(?:www\\.)?orcid\\.org\\/)?\\d{4}-\\d{4}-\\d{4}-\\d{3}[\\dXx]\\/?$"

addedOutput schema / properties / affiliations / items / properties / sources

Added value: +{
+  "description": "The party that added this affiliation to the ORCID record — the researcher, or a member organization such as a university research information system. Empty when ORCID records no source.",
+  "items": {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "description": "A party that asserted this item on the ORCID record.",
+    "properties": {
+      "assertionOriginName": {
+        "description": "Party the source added the item on behalf of, when ORCID records one — usually the researcher, for an item added through a search-and-link tool.",
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "name": {
+        "description": "Name of the person or member organization system that added the item (e.g. a university research information system, Crossref, Scopus - Elsevier). Absent when ORCID records no name.",
+        "type": "string"
+      },
+      "selfAsserted": {
+        "description": "True when the asserting party (the assertion origin when recorded, otherwise the source) is the requested ORCID iD; false when a member organization or another ORCID user asserted the item.",
+        "type": "boolean"
+      }
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "selfAsserted"
+    ],
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

changedOutput schema / properties / affiliations / items / required

Previous value: -[
-  "type"
-]New value: +[
+  "type",
+  "sources"
+]

changedOutput schema / properties / notice / description

Previous value: -"Note when no affiliations were found — may indicate private visibility or no self-reported affiliations."New value: +"Note when no affiliations were found — they may be private, or neither the researcher nor a member organization added any."

Changed1 schema field changedSep 24, 2026
- addedInput schema / properties / types / minItems
```
Added value: +1
```

Changed6 schema fields changedAug 25, 2026

changedInput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedInput schema / additionalProperties
```
Added value: +false
```

changedOutput schema / $schema

Previous value: -"http://json-schema.org/draft-07/schema#"New value: +"https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema"

addedOutput schema / anyOf

Added value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "orcidId",
+      "orcidUri",
+      "affiliationCount",
+      "affiliations",
+      "requestedTypes"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]

addedOutput schema / properties / error

Added value: +{
+  "additionalProperties": {},
+  "description": "Present when the call failed. Absent on success.",
+  "properties": {
+    "code": {
+      "description": "JSON-RPC error code for this failure.",
+      "maximum": 9007199254740991,
+      "minimum": -9007199254740991,
+      "type": "integer"
+    },
+    "data": {
+      "additionalProperties": {},
+      "properties": {
+        "reason": {
+          "description": "Machine-readable failure mode. Declared by this tool: `profile_not_found`: The ORCID iD does not correspond to a registered researcher. Other values are possible when a failure originates below the handler.",
+          "examples": [
+            "profile_not_found"
+          ],
+          "type": "string"
+        },
+        "recovery": {
+          "additionalProperties": {},
+          "description": "Actionable next step for the caller.",
+          "properties": {
+            "hint": {
+              "type": "string"
+            }
+          },
+          "required": [
+            "hint"
+          ],
+          "type": "object"
+        },
+        "retryable": {
+          "description": "Whether retrying may succeed.",
+          "type": "boolean"
+        }
+      },
+      "type": "object"
+    },
+    "message": {
+      "description": "Human-readable description of what went wrong.",
+      "type": "string"
+    }
+  },
+  "required": [
+    "code",
+    "message"
+  ],
+  "type": "object"
+}

removedOutput schema / required

Removed value: -[
-  "orcidId",
-  "orcidUri",
-  "affiliationCount",
-  "affiliations",
-  "requestedTypes"
-]

First observedMay 29, 2026

TDQS

A4/5.0

Behavior4/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnly/idempotent/openWorld, so the safety profile is covered. The description adds genuine behavioral context: data provenance (researcher vs member organizations, with source and selfAsserted fields) and the caveat that "Absence does not mean no affiliation." It omits pagination/rate-limit behavior, keeping it below 5.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Front-loads the core purpose and controls, then adds provenance and the absence caveat, with each sentence carrying information. Slightly long because the types enumeration overlaps the schema enum.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

With an output schema present, the description needn't explain returns but still does, and it additionally covers provenance semantics and the misleading-absence caveat — everything an agent needs to call and interpret this correctly.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema coverage is 100%, so both parameters are already documented; the description re-enumerates the types values and default, largely duplicating the schema's enum and default. Baseline 3 applies when the schema does the heavy lifting with no added syntax or format detail.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

States a specific verb ("Fetch") and resource ("affiliation records") scoped to an ORCID researcher, with enough detail to distinguish it from siblings like orcid_get_works or orcid_get_profile without opening the schema.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines3/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Explains the types parameter's default (employment and education) and lists valid sections, which implies how to use it, but offers no explicit when-to-use vs alternatives (e.g., orcid_get_profile also surfaces some profile data) and no exclusions.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

All orcid-mcp-server tools Inspect

Try in Browser

One endpoint for every MCP toolRayrun runs every MCP server behind one URL and holds the credentials. Each call is decided per client, tool, and argument, then recorded.ray.runAd

Glama MCP Gateway

Add one secure layer between your agents and this server.