Biological information has become so abundant and complex in recent years that it is difficult, if not impossible, even for expert individuals to manage in traditional publication formats and with existing knowledge management tools. It is an ongoing challenge for researchers to keep up-to-date on research developments in their fields, and identify relevant research to support their own studies without devoting too much time collecting unconnected information. The Reactome group has recognized this challenge and is developing a set of novel online resources that use features of the electronic media to organize biological information in ways that provide for more efficient access and that allow new forms of analysis that were not possible with information stored in the traditional printed literature.
The curation process for a pathway is similar to the editing of a scientific review. An external domain expert provides his or her expertise, one of our curators formalizes it into the database structure, and a second external domain expert reviews the representation. A system of evidence tracking ensures that all assertions are backed up by the primary literature. We have created data entry software, called the Author and Curator Tools, and associated web services, which provide interfaces in which the pathway authors can systematize their knowledge and a mechanism by which researchers, students, and clinicians can transform the information about interactions between biomolecules into knowledge about a cellular process.
Reactome has evolved into the one of the largest pathway databases, containing over 19,000 human and inferred model organism pathways, and is accessed by over 15,000 unique visitors per month all around the world. A key challenge for us is to incentivize the unpaid external domain experts to contribute their expertise and time to the curation process. In the scientific process, the key incentive is credit attribution.
As ORCID is now part of our data model, we are constantly annotating curators, editors, and expert authors and reviewers with their respective ORCID. Thus, if your ORCID isn't annotated, please let us know directly from your Authors page (search for you name first) and one of our curators will add it and we will make it be available on the next data release. In the Authors page, once logged in ORCID a button "Let us know your orcid" should appear and you can share more information using our internal form.
What is ORCID?
ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is an open, non-profit, community-driven effort to create and maintain a registry of unique researcher identifiers and a transparent method of linking research activities and outputs to these identifiers.
Individuals can obtain a free ORCID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) identifier. This digital identifier distinguishes individual researchers from other researchers and enables them to manage their records and search for others in the Registry.
Authenticate
Reactome is collecting your ORCID iD so we can add Pathways and Reactions (Works) that you have contributed either as author or reviewer into your ORCID records. When you click the “Authorize” button, we will ask you to share your iD using an authenticated process: either by registering for an ORCID iD or, if you already have one, by signing into your ORCID account, then granting us permission to get your ORCID iD. We do this to ensure that you are correctly identified and securely connecting your ORCID iD. Learn more about What’s so special about signing in
Display
To acknowledge that you have used your iD and that it has been authenticated, we display the ORCID iD icon 
alongside your name on our website/in our publications/in our database etc. Learn more in How should an ORCID iD be displayed.
Connect
By sharing your iD with Reactome, and giving us permission to read and update your ORCID record, you enable us to help you keep your record up-to-date with trusted information. Learn more in Six ways to make your ORCID iD work for you!
For more detailed information about ORCID or to register for an ORCID iD go the ORCID website.
