Changes Coming to NIH Biosketch and Other Support Forms

Beginning January 25, 2026, NIH will require the use of “Common Forms” for the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support documents on all NIH research proposals, just-in-time submissions, and grant reporting (NOT-OD-26-018). These common forms documents must be generated using SciENcv. When planning for an NIH proposal submission, all senior personnel and other significant contributors must be prepared to create or update their personnel documents using these new forms.

This policy will also require all individuals who submit NIH personnel documents to obtain an ORCID iD, and to link their ORCID iD to their eRA Commons account.

Some researchers may already be familiar with SciENcv, since NSF has required the use of SciENcv for NSF Biosketches and Current and Pending Support documents since May 2024.

For individuals planning preparation of the new NIH personnel forms, here are key next steps:

Register with ORCID and build out your ORCID profile.
Link your eRA Commons account to your ORCID iD.
Create the NIH Biographical Sketch Common Form in SciENcv. (The NIH Biosketch Common Form in SciENcv includes the Biographical Sketch Supplement Form.)
- No citations are allowed in the Personal Statement or Contributions to Science of the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement. You may provide short-form references in your narrative Contributions to Science for products from the “Other Significant Products” cited in your Biographical Sketch Common Form to provide context to your narrative contributions. No other references are allowed.
Create the NIH Current and Pending (Other) Support Common Form in SciENcv as needed. (In general, CPOS docs are not need for NIH applications at the proposal stage; only if the proposal advances to the Just-in-time phase will you need to supply a CPOS.)