diff --git a/orcid-core/src/main/java/org/orcid/core/manager/OrgDisambiguatedManager.java b/orcid-core/src/main/java/org/orcid/core/manager/OrgDisambiguatedManager.java
index 3dd8c72cad0..76851b41b23 100644
--- a/orcid-core/src/main/java/org/orcid/core/manager/OrgDisambiguatedManager.java
+++ b/orcid-core/src/main/java/org/orcid/core/manager/OrgDisambiguatedManager.java
@@ -36,5 +36,7 @@ public interface OrgDisambiguatedManager {
     void createOrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifier(OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity identifier);
     
     public List<OrgDisambiguated> findOrgDisambiguatedIdsForSameExternalIdentifier(String identifier, String type);
+    
+    public void cleanDuplicatedExternalIdentifiersForOrgDisambiguated(OrgDisambiguatedEntity orgDisambiguatedEntity);
 
 }
diff --git a/orcid-core/src/main/java/org/orcid/core/manager/impl/OrgDisambiguatedManagerImpl.java b/orcid-core/src/main/java/org/orcid/core/manager/impl/OrgDisambiguatedManagerImpl.java
index 2a074b34149..03faaeb9208 100644
--- a/orcid-core/src/main/java/org/orcid/core/manager/impl/OrgDisambiguatedManagerImpl.java
+++ b/orcid-core/src/main/java/org/orcid/core/manager/impl/OrgDisambiguatedManagerImpl.java
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@
 import javax.annotation.Resource;
 import javax.transaction.Transactional;
 
+import org.apache.commons.lang.StringUtils;
 import org.apache.commons.lang3.tuple.Pair;
 import org.orcid.core.manager.OrgDisambiguatedManager;
 import org.orcid.core.messaging.JmsMessageSender;
@@ -52,7 +53,7 @@ public class OrgDisambiguatedManagerImpl implements OrgDisambiguatedManager {
 
     @Resource
     private OrgDao orgDao;
-    
+
     @Resource
     private OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierDao orgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierDao;
 
@@ -68,6 +69,9 @@ public class OrgDisambiguatedManagerImpl implements OrgDisambiguatedManager {
     @Value("${org.orcid.persistence.messaging.updated.disambiguated_org.solr:indexDisambiguatedOrgs}")
     private String updateSolrQueueName;
 
+    @Value("${org.orcid.core.cleanExtIdsForOrg:false}")
+    private boolean cleanDuplicateExtIdForOrg;
+
     @Resource(name = "jmsMessageSender")
     private JmsMessageSender messaging;
 
@@ -76,7 +80,7 @@ public class OrgDisambiguatedManagerImpl implements OrgDisambiguatedManager {
 
     @Value("${org.orcid.persistence.messaging.updated.disambiguated_org.indexing.batchSize:1000}")
     private int indexingBatchSize;
-    
+
     @Override
     synchronized public void processOrgsForIndexing() {
         LOGGER.info("About to process disambiguated orgs for indexing");
@@ -103,7 +107,7 @@ synchronized public void markOrgsForIndexingAsGroup() {
             entities = orgDisambiguatedDaoReadOnly.findOrgsToGroup(startIndex, indexingBatchSize);
             LOGGER.info("GROUP: Found chunk of {} disambiguated orgs for indexing as group", entities.size());
             for (OrgDisambiguatedEntity entity : entities) {
-                
+
                 new OrgGrouping(entity, this).markGroupForIndexing(orgDisambiguatedDao);
             }
             startIndex = startIndex + indexingBatchSize;
@@ -147,7 +151,7 @@ private OrgDisambiguatedSolrDocument convertEntityToDocument(OrgDisambiguatedEnt
         document.setOrgDisambiguatedPopularity(entity.getPopularity());
         Set<String> orgNames = new HashSet<>();
         orgNames.add(entity.getName());
-        
+
         List<OrgEntity> orgs = orgDao.findByOrgDisambiguatedId(entity.getId());
         if (orgs != null) {
             for (OrgEntity org : orgs) {
@@ -219,6 +223,9 @@ public List<OrgDisambiguated> searchOrgsFromSolrForSelfService(String searchTerm
     @Override
     public OrgDisambiguatedEntity updateOrgDisambiguated(OrgDisambiguatedEntity orgDisambiguatedEntity) {
         normalizeExternalIdentifiers(orgDisambiguatedEntity);
+        if (cleanDuplicateExtIdForOrg) {
+            cleanDuplicatedExternalIdentifiersForOrgDisambiguated(orgDisambiguatedEntity);
+        }
         return orgDisambiguatedDao.merge(orgDisambiguatedEntity);
     }
 
@@ -262,7 +269,27 @@ public OrgDisambiguated findInDB(String idValue, String idType) {
     @Override
     public void createOrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifier(OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity identifier) {
         normalizeExternalIdentifier(identifier);
-        orgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierDao.persist(identifier);
+        boolean toPersist = true;
+        OrgDisambiguatedEntity orgDisambiguatedEntity = identifier.getOrgDisambiguated();
+        if (orgDisambiguatedEntity != null && orgDisambiguatedEntity.getExternalIdentifiers() != null) {
+            String extIdentifierKeyToAdd = identifier.getIdentifierType() + "::" + identifier.getIdentifier();
+            String extIdentifierKey;
+            for (OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity identifier1 : orgDisambiguatedEntity.getExternalIdentifiers()) {
+                extIdentifierKey = identifier1.getIdentifierType() + "::" + identifier1.getIdentifier();
+                if (StringUtils.equals(extIdentifierKeyToAdd, extIdentifierKey)) {
+                    toPersist = false;
+                    break;
+                }
+            }
+        }
+        if (cleanDuplicateExtIdForOrg) {
+            cleanDuplicatedExternalIdentifiersForOrgDisambiguated(orgDisambiguatedEntity);
+        }
+        // check if in the current external id list the identifier already
+        if (toPersist) {
+            orgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierDao.persist(identifier);
+        }
+
     }
 
     @Override
@@ -271,17 +298,16 @@ public void updateOrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifier(OrgDisambiguatedExternalIde
         orgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierDao.merge(identifier);
     }
 
-    public List<OrgDisambiguated> findOrgDisambiguatedIdsForSameExternalIdentifier( String identifier, String type ) {
+    public List<OrgDisambiguated> findOrgDisambiguatedIdsForSameExternalIdentifier(String identifier, String type) {
         List<OrgDisambiguated> orgDisambiguatedIds = new ArrayList<OrgDisambiguated>();
         List<OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity> extIds = orgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierDao.findByIdentifierIdAndType(identifier, type);
-        extIds.stream().forEach((e) -> 
-            {
-                OrgDisambiguatedEntity de = e.getOrgDisambiguated();
-                // Group only if it is not a RINGGOLD org
-                if(de != null && !OrgDisambiguatedSourceType.RINGGOLD.name().equals(de.getSourceType())) {
-                    orgDisambiguatedIds.add(convertEntity(de));
-                }
-            });
+        extIds.stream().forEach((e) -> {
+            OrgDisambiguatedEntity de = e.getOrgDisambiguated();
+            // Group only if it is not a RINGGOLD org
+            if (de != null && !OrgDisambiguatedSourceType.RINGGOLD.name().equals(de.getSourceType())) {
+                orgDisambiguatedIds.add(convertEntity(de));
+            }
+        });
         return orgDisambiguatedIds;
     }
 
@@ -347,4 +373,39 @@ private void normalizeExternalIdentifiers(OrgDisambiguatedEntity orgDisambiguate
         }
     }
 
+    public void cleanDuplicatedExternalIdentifiersForOrgDisambiguated(OrgDisambiguatedEntity orgDisambiguatedEntity) {
+        if (orgDisambiguatedEntity.getExternalIdentifiers() != null) {
+            HashMap<String, OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity> extIdsMapping = new HashMap<String, OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity>();
+            String extIdentifierKey;
+            OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity mappedExtIdentifier;
+            List<OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity> duplicatedExtIdentifiersToBeRemoved = new ArrayList<OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity>();
+            for (OrgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierEntity identifier : orgDisambiguatedEntity.getExternalIdentifiers()) {
+                extIdentifierKey = identifier.getIdentifierType() + "::" + identifier.getIdentifier();
+                if (extIdsMapping.containsKey(extIdentifierKey)) {
+
+                    if (!identifier.getPreferred()) {
+                        duplicatedExtIdentifiersToBeRemoved.add(identifier);
+                    } else {
+                        mappedExtIdentifier = extIdsMapping.get(extIdentifierKey);
+                        duplicatedExtIdentifiersToBeRemoved.add(mappedExtIdentifier);
+                        extIdsMapping.put(extIdentifierKey, identifier);
+                    }
+
+                }
+            }
+            // remove the duplicates from DB
+
+            LOGGER.info(
+                    "About to remove " + duplicatedExtIdentifiersToBeRemoved.size() + " duplicate external Ids for Disambiguated Org " + orgDisambiguatedEntity.getId());
+            duplicatedExtIdentifiersToBeRemoved.stream().forEach((e) -> {
+                try {
+                    orgDisambiguatedExternalIdentifierDao.remove(e);
+                    LOGGER.debug("Removed ext id " + e.getIdentifierType() + "::" + e.getIdentifier() + "::" + e.getId());
+                } catch (Exception ex) {
+                    LOGGER.error("Exception when removing duplicate external ids for Disambiguated Org " + orgDisambiguatedEntity.getId(), ex);
+                }
+            });
+
+        }
+    }
 }