orcid-mcp-server

Get ORCID Researcher Profile

orcid_get_profile

Read-onlyIdempotent

Fetch a researcher's public profile from ORCID: name, other names, biography, keywords, researcher URLs, and external identifiers such as Scopus Author ID, ResearcherID, and Loop profile. This is the entry point for building a researcher dossier. Pass a bare ORCID iD (0000-0001-2345-6789) or a full URI (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-2345-6789). The profile contains only publicly visible data — researchers control visibility per field.

Input Schema

TableJSON Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`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.
`emails`	No	Publicly visible email addresses.
`notice`	No	Names the profile sections with no public data — ORCID visibility is set per field, so an empty section may be private.
`orcidId`	No	Normalized ORCID iD (bare format without URI prefix).
`keywords`	No	Research keywords set by the researcher.
`orcidUri`	No	Full ORCID URI (https://orcid.org/{id}).
`biography`	No	Researcher biography, if publicly visible.
`countries`	No	Countries listed in the researcher's address section.
`creditName`	No	Published credit name, if set.
`familyName`	No	Family (last) name, if publicly visible.
`givenNames`	No	Given (first) name, if publicly visible.
`otherNames`	No	Other names listed on the ORCID record.
`researcherUrls`	No	Researcher-provided URLs (personal site, lab page, blog, etc.).
`externalIdentifiers`	No	External identifiers from scholarly systems (Scopus, Web of Science, Loop, etc.).

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

changedOutput schema / anyOf

Previous value: -[
-  {
-    "not": {
-      "required": [
-        "error"
-      ]
-    },
-    "required": [
-      "orcidId",
-      "orcidUri",
-      "keywords",
-      "researcherUrls",
-      "externalIdentifiers",
-      "emails",
-      "countries"
-    ]
-  },
-  {
-    "required": [
-      "error"
-    ]
-  }
-]New value: +[
+  {
+    "not": {
+      "required": [
+        "error"
+      ]
+    },
+    "required": [
+      "orcidId",
+      "orcidUri",
+      "otherNames",
+      "keywords",
+      "researcherUrls",
+      "externalIdentifiers",
+      "emails",
+      "countries"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "required": [
+      "error"
+    ]
+  }
+]

addedOutput schema / properties / notice

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Names the profile sections with no public data — ORCID visibility is set per field, so an empty section may be private.",
+  "type": "string"
+}

addedOutput schema / properties / otherNames

Added value: +{
+  "description": "Other names listed on the ORCID record.",
+  "items": {
+    "description": "Alternative name.",
+    "type": "string"
+  },
+  "type": "array"
+}

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",
+      "keywords",
+      "researcherUrls",
+      "externalIdentifiers",
+      "emails",
+      "countries"
+    ]
+  },
+  {
+    "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",
-  "keywords",
-  "researcherUrls",
-  "externalIdentifiers",
-  "emails",
-  "countries"
-]

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 readOnlyHint, idempotentHint, and openWorldHint, so the safety profile is covered. The description adds genuine behavioral context beyond that: the data is limited to publicly visible fields and researchers control visibility per field, which explains otherwise-confusing omissions in results. No rate-limit or error behavior is described.

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

Conciseness5/5

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

Three sentences, front-loaded with what is returned, then how to pass the identifier, then the visibility caveat. Every sentence carries information; nothing is redundant with the schema or annotations.

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

Completeness4/5

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

With an output schema present, return values need no explanation, and annotations carry the safety profile, so the description only needed to cover input format and data-visibility caveats — both present. The only shortfall is the thin routing guidance against the many sibling ORCID tools.

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 description coverage is 100% and the pattern already encodes both the bare iD and URI forms plus the X check digit. The description restates the same two accepted formats without adding format, normalization, or error-handling detail beyond the schema, so the baseline 3 applies.

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 and resource (fetch a researcher's public profile from ORCID) and enumerates exactly what comes back: name, other names, biography, keywords, researcher URLs, external identifiers. That field list implicitly separates it from sibling section tools like orcid_get_works, orcid_get_funding, and orcid_get_affiliations, and 'entry point for building a researcher dossier' further anchors its role.

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?

Calling it 'the entry point for building a researcher dossier' implies usage, but no alternatives are named and no when-not conditions are given. An agent is left to infer why it would call orcid_resolve_researcher or orcid_search_researchers first instead of this tool.

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

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