Name Ambiguity Problem
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: <a href='/glossary/authorship/'>Authorship</a>, <a href='/glossary/doi-digital-object-identifier/'>DOI (digital object identifier)</a>, ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID)
Reference: Wilson and Fenner (2012)
Drafted and Reviewed by: Shannon Francis, Tsvetomira Dumbalska, Mahmoud Elsherif, Helena Hartmann, Wanyin Li, Charlotte R. Pennington