📌 What Is ROR?

The Research Organization Registry (ROR) is a global, open, and community-led initiative that provides unique persistent identifiers for research organizations — much like ORCID for researchers or DOI for articles.

Each institution is assigned a unique ROR ID. This allows scholarly systems to store, recognize, and retrieve affiliation data consistently, regardless of spelling variations or language differences.

ROR records include:

• The official name and alternative names in different languages

• Location and website of the institution

• Cross-linked identifiers like ISNI, GRID, Crossref, and Wikidata

• Relationships with other organizations (e.g., hospitals, research centers)

🎯 Why Is ROR Important?

In most publishing systems, authors manually type their institution names during manuscript submission. While this seems simple, it often leads to inconsistencies due to:

• Typing errors

• Local language differences

• Personal or unofficial naming conventions

These inconsistencies can:

• Break metadata quality

• Mislead statistical analysis

• Disrupt institutional reporting

• Hinder indexing and discovery

By using ROR, systems ensure that all affiliations point to a single, accurate, and standard identity — improving interoperability, searchability, and reporting accuracy.

🏛 Let’s See This in Action: Gazi University’s ROR Record

To understand how ROR helps solve these problems, let’s explore a real example — Gazi University in Turkey.

🔗 https://ror.org/054xkpr46

On this ROR profile, you’ll find:

• Official name: Gazi University

• Other names: Gazi Üniversitesi (tr), Qazi Universiteti (az)

• Location: Ankara, Türkiye

• Website: http://gazi.edu.tr

• Linked identifiers:

  • GRID: grid.25769.3f

  • ISNI: 0000 0001 2169 7132

  • Crossref Funder ID, Wikidata

• Related organizations: Gazi Hastanesi

In a manual system, authors might enter any version of this name — from “Gazi University” to “Gazi Üniv.” to “Qazi Univ.” — all of which the system might treat as separate institutions.
But with ROR, all these variations are unified under one consistent institutional identity.

🔌 How Does This Work in OJS?

The ROR Plugin is available in the OJS Plugin Gallery starting with version 3.2. Once installed and enabled:

• Authors are prompted to select their institution from the ROR-powered list during submission.

• The system fetches standardized metadata from ROR, ensuring consistency.

• Multiple affiliations can be added if needed.

• The selected ROR ID is stored in the metadata and displayed on the article page.

This is especially helpful for multilingual journals, where the same institution may be entered in English, Turkish, Spanish, or other languages.

💡 Key Benefits of Using ROR in OJS

✅ Prevents human errors in affiliation names
✅ Unifies institution data across languages
✅ Supports multiple affiliations for one author
✅ Improves indexing and interoperability
✅ Helps generate accurate institutional reports
✅ Enhances metadata quality for repositories and funders

🛠 Ready to Future-Proof Your Journal?

At OJS-Services.com, we specialize in helping journals implement powerful tools like the ROR Plugin. Whether you’re just starting out or managing a large publishing platform, we can support you with:

• ✔ OJS installation and setup

• ✔ Plugin integration (ROR, ORCID, Crossref, more)

• ✔ System updates and theme customization

• ✔ Hosting and long-term support

📧 Get in touch with us today to bring your journal up to international standards — clean, consistent, and ready for the future of scholarly publishing.