More and more, the unique identity of researchers is an issue that various agencies are trying to resolve. This includes resolution through commercial servers, such as Thompson-Reuters Researcher ID, or through [soon to be running] not-for-profit organisations such as the ORCID service (see article here). Ad-hoc services can also serve to help, including the more ‘social’-networking approach of academia.edu.
However, one thing that is missing from many of these efforts is a unique researcher email. Whenever a paper is published, the corresponding author must include their email address for replies and requests (for example for extra data, clarifications or preprints). With the mobility of today’s researchers then, this can be an issue in both tracing material, and in identifying uniqueness. To solve this, a researcher email server should be initiated alongside the other identification techniques – any time a research goes to publish, they should thus be required to utilise this central contact point. It would be relatively straight forward for journals to request this, and should help tracking down researchers as they move from institution to institution.
<addendum> Further comments and ideas at Friendfeed.
