Name Ambiguity Problem

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Definition: An attribution issue arising from two related problems: authors may use multiple names or monikers to publish work, and multiple authors in a single field may share full names. This makes accurate identification of authors on names and specialisms alone a difficult task. This can be addressed through the creation and use of unique digital identifiers that act akin to digital fingerprints such as ORCID.

Related terms: Authorship, DOI (digital object identifier), ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID)

Reference:

Originally drafted by: Shannon Francis

Reviewed by: Tsvetomira Dumbalska, Mahmoud Elsherif, Helena Hartmann, Wanyin Li, Charlotte R. Pennington