The RePEc Author Service just underwent a major upgrade. One important aspect of it is the treatment of multiple affiliations. There are also other changes of a more cosmetic nature that should help users avoid some common mistakes as well as some administrative and management improvements that a typical user would not notice.
Multiple affiliations
The most requested change was to allow authors with multiple affiliations to either select an order of importance for the affiliations or to select weights for each. This has become important for the rankings, as authors are allocated to their respective affiliations. Some weighting scheme had to be put in place, and the one in place so far was guessing the probability that a particular affiliation is the main one. The risk of error is of course large. With the revision, authors now have to chose the proper weights themselves. This now applies to any authors changing affiliations, and any new registrant. Anybody getting on the affiliation page also has to choose weights. These weights will be enforced for the March 2012 rankings released in early April 2012. Note that weights are public information.
Clearer claim choices
This change has actually been in place for a few weeks. When authors were offered choices of research items to claim as theirs, quite a few got confused and did the exact opposite of what they wanted to do: claim works of others and refuse their own. The form is now much clearer, with green and red backgrounds for the choices. Our observation so far has been that the error rate has been dramatically reduced.
Better action alerts
When an author logs in, he/she will immediately see whether research items or citations are waiting to be claimed. Bright red numbers are then present next to the relevant links. This features will gradually roll in as author accounts are refreshed.
Avoid duplicate entries
Upon registration, there is now a check to avoid someone to register again. Indeed, when moving or changing email address, it is much better to update an existing account than create a second, none the least because this preserves links throughout the RePEc system. Of course, it is still possible that a homonym is registering, so the check can be bypassed.
Name variations
Research items are linked to authors using the name variations they supply. During registration, the system makes suggestions that a registrant can amend (for example: Adam Smith; Smith, Adam; A. Smith; Smith A.). Unfortunately, it was noticed that a not insignificant share of users was deleting valid name variations, in particular to keep just one. The system was then unable to link them with appropriate results. It is now impossible for a new registrant to have less than four name variations.
Better treatment of deceased authors
Unfortunately, some authors pass away, and by now the list has become significant. Instead of leaving those accounts orphaned, they are now aggregated into a master account that can manage them. Indeed, a deceased author may still have new works added to RePEc, and have new citations discovered. Such an account continues to provide useful information and should not be deleted. By the way, this is an opportunity for volunteer to get involved in helping RePEc.
Better monitoring
There is now also better monitoring of the activity on the RePEc Author Service to prevent abuse and errors. This also releases more time for the administrator to deal with other tasks.
Problems?
Should anything appear amiss, do not hesitate to contact the administrator listed on the RePEc Author Service website.
PS: Secure HTTP
The site is now also served under secure http (https), to increase the security of transactions.
Posted by Christian Zimmermann 
The RePEc Blog 
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