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Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support

Use of the SciENcv NIH Common Forms for Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support and NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement will be required for application due dates and all JIT, RPPR, and Prior Approval submissions on or after January 25, 2026.

NIH will enforce the use of the Common Forms via eRA system validations immediately as a warning when the wrong form is used. However, to allow for a small period of leniency given the size of Training and Center grant applications, NIH will withdraw any application that does not comply with the use of the Common Forms beginning with the February 5, 2026 standard application due date. Moreover, by February 6, 2026, the warning will be elevated into an error preventing submission of the incorrect or uncertified forms. Failure to utilize the correct forms will cause NIH to withdraw your application from consideration.

Note: With Common Forms implementation, the NIH requires all Senior/Key Personnel to link both their eRA Commons account and their ORCID iD account to their SciENcv account to complete the NIH Common Forms for Current and Pending Support, Biosketch and the NIH Biosketch Supplement.*

The following are the complete NIH Common Form Biosketch and Biosketch Supplement instructions for each individual identified as a senior/key person on a NIH project and to all other individuals required to submit a biosketch and supplement. The biosketch and supplement are used to assess how well qualified the individual, team, or organization is to conduct the proposed activities.

Individuals are required to disclose contracts associated with participation in programs sponsored by foreign governments, instrumentalities, or entities, including foreign government-sponsored talent recruitment programs. Further, if individuals receive direct or indirect support that is funded by a foreign government-sponsored talent recruitment program, even where the support is provided through an intermediary and does not require membership in the foreign government-sponsored talent recruitment program, that support must be disclosed. Individuals must also report other foreign government sponsored or affiliated activities. Individuals are prohibited from being a party in a malign foreign talent recruitment program.

A table entitled, NSPM-33 Implementation Guidance Pre- and Post-award Disclosures Relating to the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support1 has been created to provide helpful reference information regarding pre-award and post-award disclosures. The table includes the types of activities to be reported, where such activities must be reported in the application, as well as when updates are required in the application and award lifecycle. A final column identifies activities that are not required to be reported.

Individuals are reminded not to submit any personal information in the biosketch. This includes items such as: home address; home telephone, fax, or cell phone numbers; home email address; driver's license number; marital status; personal hobbies; and the like. Such personal information is not appropriate for the biosketch and is not relevant to the merits of the proposal.

NIH Common Form Biosketch

1. Log into SciENcv - Upon login you will be navigated to either:
   1. Your My NCBI landing page (your page URL will be https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/). On the lower right of your My NCBI landing page will be a blue Manage SciENcv hyperlink. Click it.
      • Administrators: If you have been granted delegate access to any of your investigators, you will see their email listed on the lower right of your My NCBI screen under Delegated CV. To enter information on your investigator's behalf, click on the relevant investigator's email.
   2. Alternatively, you may be logged into the My NCBI SciENcv info page (your page URL will be https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/). On the lower left of this page you should see "You are here: MyNCBI > SciENcv > SciENcv: Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae". Click on the blue SciENcv hyperlink.
2. You should now be on your SciENcv landing page (your page URL will be https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/sciencv/). Review your My Profile, and complete all fields, as needed by clicking on the blue Edit button.
   • Remember - Investigators MUST link both their ORCID iD and eRA Commons account to their SciENcv account. If you do NOT see your ORCID iD and/or eRA Commons ID listed on your "My Profile", either click on your account name in the upper right of the screen, or click the blue Edit link next to "My Profile", and complete the requisite account linkages.
   • Administrators: If you have been granted delegate access to any of your investigators, when you navigate to your SciENcv page and scroll to the bottom, you should see their emails listed under Delegated SciENcv Accounts. To enter information on your investigator's behalf, click on the relevant investigator's email.
     • If you are a delegate working for another investigator, DO NOT try to add the investigator's ORCID if it's missing from their profile section. The investigator must log into SciENcv themselves and link their ORCID to their profile themselves.
3. Click the blue + New Document button.
4. Enter a Document Name - this can be whatever you like.
5. Select from the Document Type dropdown menu NIH Biographical Sketch Common Form.
6. Select whichever Data Source you would like to use:
   1. Use an external source - allows you to import data from either ORCiD or eRA commons.
   2. Use an existing document in SciENcv - allows you to import data from another SciENcv biosketch you have previously created, if any.
   3. Start with a blank document
7. Click the blue Create button and follow the on screen and/or below instructions to complete the form fields.

The format of the NIH Common Form Biosketch is as follows. There is no page limit for the NIH Common Form Biosketch.

* = required

*Identifying Information

*Name: Enter the name of the senior/key person (Last Name, First Name, and Middle Name, including any applicable suffix).

*Persistent Identifier (PID) of the Senior/Key Person: Enter the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) ID of the senior/key person. For NIH, an individual's ORCID ID must be linked to the individuals' eRA Commons Personal Profile as well as their SciENcv account.

*Position Title: Enter the current position title of the senior/key person.

*Organization and Location

Name: Enter the name of the primary organization of the senior/key person.

Location: Enter the City, State/Province, and Country where the primary organization is located. If the State/Province is not applicable, enter N/A.

*Professional Preparation

A list of the individual's professional preparation (e.g., education and training), listed in reverse chronological order by start date. Include all postdoctoral and fellowship training, as applicable, listing each separately. Also include the baccalaureate degree or other initial professional education.

• For each entry provide:
  • the name of the organization;
  • the location of the organization: Enter the City, State/Province, and Country where the organization is located. If the State/Province is not applicable, enter N/A.
  • the degree received (if applicable);
  • the start date of the degree or fellowship program;
  • the month and year the degree was received (or expected receipt date); and
  • the field of study.

*Appointments and Positions

A list, in reverse chronological order by start date, of all the individual's academic, professional, or institutional appointments and positions, beginning with the current appointment (including the associated organization and location). Appointments and positions include any titled academic, professional, or institutional position whether or not remuneration is received, and whether full-time, part-time, or voluntary (including adjunct, visiting, or honorary). Senior/key persons must only identify all domestic and foreign professional appointments and positions outside of the primary organization for a period up to three years from the date the applicant submits the application to the agency for funding consideration.

• For each entry provide:
  • Start date: YYYY
  • End date: YYYY
  • Appointment or Position Title:
  • Name of organization: Department (if applicable):
  • Location of organization:
  • City, State/Province, Country

*Products

Provide a list of: (i) up to five products closely related to the proposed project; and (ii) up to five other significant products that highlight the senior/key person's Contributions to Science. The NIH Biosketch Supplement will provide the opportunity to describe these contributions in more depth while referencing the other significant products cited in this section. It is up to the individual to determine how to best organize this listing to demonstrate their ability to carry out the project. Acceptable products must be citable and accessible including but not limited to:

• publications, conference papers, and presentations;
• website(s) or other Internet site(s);
• technologies or techniques;
• inventions, patents, patent applications, and/or licenses; and
• other products, such as data, databases, or datasets, physical collections, audio or video products, software, models, educational aids or curricula, instruments or equipment, research material, interventions (e.g., clinical or educational), or new business creation.

Each product must follow the NIH Policy on Use of Hypertext in NIH Grant Applications and include full citation information including:

• names of authors;
• product title;
• date of publication or release;
• website URL;
• other persistent identifier (if available); and
• other relevant citation information (e.g., in the case of publications, title of enclosing work such as journal or book, volume, issue, pages).

If any of the items specified above is not applicable, enter N/A. Senior/key persons who wish to include publications in the products section of the biosketch that include multiple authors may, at their discretion, choose to list one or more of the authors and then "et al" in lieu of including the complete listing of authors' names.

NIH Biosketch Supplement

The NIH Biosketch Supplement will be appended to an individual's NIH Biosketch within SciENcv. The format of the NIH Biosketch Supplement is as follows.

* = required

*Identifying Information

*Name: Enter the name of the senior/key person (Last Name, First Name, and Middle Name, including any applicable suffix).

*Persistent Identifier (PID) of the Senior/Key Person: Enter the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) ID of the senior/key person. For NIH, an individual's ORCID ID must be linked to the individual's eRA Commons Personal Profile as well as their SciENcv account.

*Position Title: Enter the current position title of the senior/key person.

*Organization and Location

Name: Enter the name of the primary organization of the senior/key person. Location: Enter the City, State/Province, and Country where the primary organization is located. If the State/Province is not applicable, enter N/A.

*Personal Statement

Briefly describe why you are well-suited for your role(s) in this project. Relevant factors may include: aspects of your training; your previous experimental work on this specific topic or related topics; your technical expertise; your collaborators or scientific environment; and/or your past performance in this or related fields, including ongoing and completed research projects from the past three years that you want to highlight.

Do NOT provide citations in the NIH Biosketch Supplement.

Note the following additional instructions for ALL applicants/candidates:

• If you wish to explain factors that affected your past productivity, such as family care responsibilities, illness, disability, or military service, you may address them in this section.
• Indicate whether you have published or created research products under another name.

Note the following instructions for specific subsets of applicants/candidates:

• For institutional research training, institutional career development, or research education grant applications, faculty who are not senior/key persons are encouraged, but not required, to complete the Personal Statement section of the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement. Please enter N/A in the text field if no Personal Statement will be provided.
• Applicants for dissertation research awards (e.g., R36) should, in addition to addressing the points noted above, also include a description of their career goals, their intended career trajectory, and their interest in the specific areas of research designated in the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO).
• The Personal Statement is limited to 3,500 characters.

* Honors

List any relevant academic and professional achievements and honors. In particular:

• Students, postdocs, and junior faculty should include scholarships, traineeships, fellowships, and development awards, as applicable.
• Clinicians should include information on any clinical licensures and specialty board certifications that they have achieved.
• The Honors section is limited to no more than 15 entries.

* Contributions to Science:

All senior/key persons should complete the "Contributions to Science" section. Please enter N/A in the text field if no Contributions to Science will be provided.

Briefly describe up to five of your most significant contributions to science. The description of each contribution should be no longer than one-half page.

While all applicants may describe up to five contributions, graduate students and postdocs may wish to consider highlighting two or three they consider most significant.

• For each contribution, indicate the following:
  • the historical background that frames the scientific problem;
  • the central finding(s);
  • the influence of the finding(s) on the progress of science or the application of those finding(s) to health or technology;
  • and your specific role in the described work.
  • Figures, tables, or graphics are not allowed.

You may reference up to five products listed in the Other Significant Products section of your biosketch that are relevant to the contributions described in this section.

There is no specific format for referencing the products in this section; however, it is recommended to refer to the title, use the author's last name, publication, and/or year of publication for ease of reference.

Do NOT provide citations in the NIH Biosketch Supplement.

Descriptions of contributions may include a mention of research products under development, such as manuscripts that have not yet been accepted for publication. These contributions do not have to be related to the project proposed in this application.

Each Contribution to Science is limited to 2,000 characters

*Certification

Each senior/key person is required to complete the following certifications regarding the information provided in their Biosketch and Biosketch Supplement:

Certification of disclosure documents must be completed by each senior/key person from their own SciENcv account and may NEVER be delegated.

I certify that the information provided is current, accurate, and complete. This includes but is not limited to information related to domestic and foreign appointments and positions.

I also certify that, at the time of submission, I am not a party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program.

Misrepresentations and/or omissions may be subject to prosecution and liability pursuant to, but not limited to, 18 U.S.C. §§ 287, 1001, 1031 and 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729-3733 and 3802.

To be acceptable to the Federal research funding agency, the date of the signature must be within the past 12 months from when the document is submitted to the Federal research funding agency.

Additional Resources

• Instructions for Biographical Sketch Common Form (PDF, 214 KB)
• Instructions for Biographical Sketch Supplement (PDF, 214 KB)
• NIH Common Form Biographical Sketch webpage
• NIH Biosketch Supplement webpage
• NIH Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support FAQs
• Pre- and Post-award Disclosures Relating to the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support Table - Provides helpful reference information regarding pre-award and post-award disclosures
• Using SciENcv Frequently Asked Questions