NIH Implementation of the Common Forms for Biosketches and Current and Pending (Other) Support - Effective January 25, 2026

The Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support refers to standardized documents used across multiple federal government agencies to standardize disclosure requirements.  The NIH Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support are exclusively available in SciENcv.

SciENcv is an application developed by the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) to help researchers create and maintain Biographical Sketches and Current and Pending (Other) Support forms.  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 Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support.

An ORCID iD is a free, unique, persistent identifier for individuals to use.  All Senior/Key Personnel must have an ORCID iD and must link their ORCID iD to their SciENcv account to complete NIH Common Forms and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement.  If you do not already have an OCRID iD, register for an ORCID iD here.    

NIH Implements the SciENcv NIH Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support for Due Dates on or after January 25, 2026

Note: To allow for a period of leniency, NIH will provide a warning when the Common Forms are not used but will not withdraw applications that don’t comply with the use of the Common Forms. NIH is extending the leniency period through May 2026. NIH will issue a Guide Notice announcing the date when the validation will be changed to an error and the requirement to use the Common Forms will be system-enforced (Reference NIH FAQ Updated 1/27/26 and NIH Guide Notice NOT-OD-26-033 issued 2/4/26.)

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 Common Forms and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement.*

What Investigators and Administrators can do now to prepare for NIH Commons Forms Implementation

Investigators

1. Access your SciENcv account, and if you have not already, link both your eRA Commons account AND your ORCID iD to your SciENcv account.
   • If you have never accessed SciENcv before:
     • Navigate to the SciENcv login page.
     • Click More Options >> other login options >> more login options. Type Stanford and select "Stanford University" to sign as a Partner Organization.  You will be signed in using your Stanford SSO credentials.
     • Click on your username in the top-right corner of the screen. From the ACCOUNT menu that opens, click Account Settings.
     • Scroll down to Linked Accounts and click Add Account.  A Link a new 3rd-party account pop-up window will open.  Search for either eRA commons or ORCiD.  Select whichever you would like to link first and proceed with the on screen instructions.  Repeat the Add Account function for whichever account you did not add initially/already.
   • If you have previously accessed SciENcv:
     • Navigate to the SciENcv login page and login using the login option you used before, e.g., eRA Commons, ORCiD, NSF/Research.gov, your Stanford SSO etc.
     • Once logged into your SciENcv account, in the top-right corner of the screen, click on your username. From the ACCOUNT menu that opens, click Account Settings.
     • Scroll down to Linked Accounts and click Add Account.  A Link a new 3rd-party account pop-up window will open.  Search for either eRA commons or ORCiD.  Select whichever you would like to link first and proceed with the on-screen instructions.  Repeat the Add Account function for whichever account you did not add initially/already.

Note: When you link your eRA commons account to your SciENcv account, any NIH Biosketch you generate from SciENcv will display your eRA Commons Person ID # and NOT your eRA Commons User Name.  This is by design, and is NOT an error.  The eRA Commons person ID is an alternate unique identifier from eRA Commons. Investigators MUST link BOTH their eRA Commons account and their ORCID iD account to their SciENcv account to be able to complete NIH Common Forms.

2. Grant your local, department research administrator delegate access to your SciENcv account.  
   • Step-by-step instructions for delegating SciENcv access are available on the ORA SciENcv Resources page.

Note: While administrators can assist with the preparation of investigator disclosure documents through SciENcv delegate access, certification of disclosure documents must be completed by each senior/key person from their own SciENcv account and may NEVER be delegated.  Moreover, once a disclosure document is investigator certified, no changes may be made.  If needed edits are identified on an investigator certified disclosure document, those edits should be entered in SciENcv, and then the investigator must re-download and re-certify the given disclosure document.

Administrators

1. Access your SciENcv account and familiarize yourself with the SciENcv user interface - anyone with an active SUNet ID can access SciENcv!
   • Navigate to the SciENcv login page.
   • Click More Options >> other login options >> more login options. Type Stanford and select "Stanford University" to sign as a Partner Organization.  You will be signed in using your Stanford SSO credentials.
2. Work with your investigators to obtain delegate access to their SciENcv accounts.  
   • Step-by-step instructions for delegating SciENcv access are available on the ORA SciENcv Resources page.
3. Once you have delegate access to your investigator accounts you can begin creating documents for your investigators!

   1. Note: If an investigator's profile within SciENcv is not complete and they or any delegates attempt to create a new document starting with a current SciENcv document as a template, they may receive an error if they try to edit or complete the Identifying Information section of an individual Common Form Biosketch or an Current and Pending Support document.  Once the profile section is complete, the information should populate correctly in each new document you start in SciENcv. 

      
   2. Click the EDIT link in the profile section and add all relevant information (their name, title, institution)
      • 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 if it is missing.

Certification of disclosure documents must be completed by each senior/key person from their own SciENcv account and may NEVER be delegated.  Moreover, once an investigator certifies and downloads from SciENcv either a biosketch or current and pending support document, no edits can be made to the downloaded PDF except for updating the file name.  The file name must align with guidance as noted on Format Attachments, File Names. 

NIH Common Form Biosketch and Biosketch Supplement Instructions & Additional Resources

NIH Common Form Current and Pending Support Instructions & Additional Resources

NIH Common Form FAQs

January 13 & 20, 2026 ORA NIH Common Forms & SciENcv Info Session Slides

January 13, 2026 ORA NIH Common Forms & SciENcv Info Session Recording

Need further assistance? Have questions and/or feedback? Please submit questions and/or feedback and a member of the ORA-RMG Disclosures Team will respond to you shortly.