NIH Implementation of the Common Forms for Biosketches and Current and Pending (Other) Support - Anticipated November 2025

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. Upon implementation, the NIH will require 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.*

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 Common Forms and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement.* If you do not already have an OCRID iD, register for an ORCID iD here.

Preview versions of the NIH Common Forms (Biosketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support) are Now available within SciENcv

Updated September 15, 2025: The NIH Preview Common Forms allow users to create, save, reopen, and edit the preview forms in SciENcv. These preview forms are an opportunity for users to preview the system functionality and instructions only and are not the final official versions and should not be used for submission to NIH. The download PDF functionality is disabled for the NIH Preview Common Forms, and any data entered into the preview forms will be deleted and no longer accessible once the official NIH Common Forms become available for preparation and submission in SciENcv, anticipated November 2025.

Under no circumstances may applicants or recipients use the NIH Preview Common Forms for submissions to NIH. During this preview period, applicants and recipients must continue to use the current NIH Biosketch and Other Support Format Pages for all submissions to NIH until NIH’s official implementation of the Common Forms. Review NOT-OD-25-152 to learn more.

NIH will issue a subsequent Guide Notice to announce final details of Common Forms implementation. Stay tuned for updates!

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

Investigators

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.

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.

Administrators

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.
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.
Once you have delegate access to your investigator accounts you can begin creating documents for your investigators!
- To get a head start on NIH Other Support moving into SciENcv, you can create now within SciENcv a NSF Current and Pending (Other) Support document for each of your investigators that has granted you delegate access and input their respective data. Then, once SciENcv releases the final version of the NIH Common forms (anticipated in November 2025), you can use the NSF Current & Pending Support documents you already created in SciENcv to create and populate SciENcv NIH Current and Pending (Other) Support documents without needing to enter any data anew.

Notable Differences between the Current NIH Biosketch and Other Support Forms and the Common Forms

Biosketches

Two Forms (SciENcv will combine the two forms into one PDF document when investigators download and certify a NIH biosketch from SciENcv):
1. Biographical Sketch Common Form (Professional Preparation, Appointment and Positions, Products)
  - Up to 10 products total will be allowed on the NIH Common Form, categorized into two subsections:
    - Up to 5 products most closely related to the proposed project (aligns with products formerly in Personal Statement).
    - Up to 5 Other Significant Products (aligns with products formerly in Contributions to Science).
    - Narrative text will be captures in the Biographical Sketch Supplement.*
2. *NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement (Personal Statement, Contributions to Science, and Honors)
  - Personal Statement - 3,500 character limit
  - Contributions to Science - up to 5 entries, each no more than 2,000 characters
  - Honors - 15 entries max

Current and Pending (Other) Support

Form Name Change from Other Support to Current and Pending (Other) Support.
Effort: Report only in Person Months* rather than Calendar or Academic/Summer.
- *Person Months: Enter how much time the individual anticipates is necessary to complete the scope of work on the proposal, active project, consulting or in-kind resource. Enter the number of person-months (even if unsalaried) for the current budget period and enter the proposed person-months for each subsequent budget period. If the time commitment is not readily ascertainable, a reasonable estimate should be provided.**
  - **Note: SciENcv requires at least 0.01 person months to be entered for any person month entry. Moreover, keeping in mind one of the primary purposes of a Current and Pending document/disclosure is for sponsors to assess the capacity of investigators to take on new projects, the Person-Month(s) or (Partial Person-Months) per year listed for a project should always be a reasonable approximation of how much time the individual is planning to spend to complete the given project, even if project does not require a measurable effort commitment, as is commonly the case for University Research Awards (URAs), Seed Grants, and awards/projects classified as Other Sponsored Activities (OSAs).
Major Goals changed to Overall Objectives.
In-Kind Contributions only must be reported if estimated value is at $5K or more and it requires a commitment of the individual's time. In-kind contributions with an estimated value of less than $5000 need NOT be reported.
Overlap now reportable on an individual entry basis.

NIH Common Form FAQs

The NIH has developed their own FAQs for their implementation of the Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support HERE.

Below are additional NIH Common Form Implementation FAQs and Stanford's guidance.

No, reporting person months devoted to a proposal or active project that is greater than the amount of investigator salary budgeted or being direct and/or cost shared does NOT represent a [new] cost sharing commitment.

With that being said, all expenditures charged to sponsored projects, including personnel/salary costs, must always be allocable to the given sponsored project and should NEVER be inclusive of time that is being spent on activities other than the given sponsored project being charged in the proportion it is being charged.

Example: An investigator devotes 90% of their time or 10.8 person months in a year to research, and they have the below 3 projects:
1. 1 externally funded sponsored research award to which the investigator devotes 10 person months of their time, and this time was budgeted as a direct expense to the project and...
2. 1 externally funded Other Sponsored Activity award (OSA), e.g., a conference grant, to which they devote 0.4 person months time, and no investigator salary was budgeted nor is being direct charged and/or cost shared, and...
3. 1 internally funded Seed Grant to which they devote 0.4 person months time, and no investigator salary was budgeted nor is being direct charged and/or cost shared then...
It would only be allocable and thus allowable to direct charge and/or cost share 10 person months time of the investigator's salary to (#1) the externally funded sponsored research award. The 0.8 person months of investigator time being devoted to the OSA + Seed Grant must be charged to a non-sponsored source of funding, in addition to the 10% of investigator time (1.2 person months) that the investigator devotes to activities other than research.

Consulting activities must be disclosed under the Proposals and Active Projects section of the NIH Common Form for Current and Pending (Other) Support when any of the following scenarios apply:

The consulting activity will require the senior/key person to perform research as part of the consulting activity;
The consulting activity does not involve performing research, but is related to the senior/key person’s research portfolio and may have the ability to impact funding, alter time or effort commitments, or otherwise impact scientific integrity; or
The consulting entity has provided a contract that requires the senior/key person to conceal or withhold confidential financial or other ties between the senior/key person and the entity, irrespective of the duration of the engagement.

Note: Under the Proposals and Active Projects section of the common form the Total Anticipated Proposal/Project Amount field must be completed, even for consulting activities. When a consulting activity that meets the criteria for common forms disclosure does and/or will NOT provide remuneration to the investigator, $0 is a valid entry for Total Anticipated Proposal/Project Amount field in SciENcv. However, when a consulting activity that meets the criteria for common forms disclosure does and/or will provide remuneration to the investigator, the actual dollar amount the investigator does and/or will receive must be entered in the Total Anticipated Proposal/Project Amount field in SciENcv. Additionally, the number of person-months (or partial person-months) per year the investigator is and/or will devote to the consulting activity must be entered in the relevant Person Months field(s).

No! This is one of the most value add features of SciENcv. Once you create one document type within SciENcv, e.g., a NSF Current and Pending (Other) Support, you can use that existing document and the data within to create and populate similar documents for other sponsors, e.g., an NIH or USDA Current and Pending (Other) Support.

NIH will issue a subsequent Guide Notice to announce final details of Common Forms implementation. Stay tuned for updates!

Step-by-step instructions for delegating SciENcv access are available on the ORA SciENcv Resources page.

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.

Note: You MUST link BOTH your eRA Commons account and your ORCID iD account to your SciENcv account to prepare NIH Common Forms.

If you have ever accessed SciENcv before:

Navigate to the SciENcv login page and login using the login option you have used before e.g. eRA Commons, ORCiD, NSF/Research.gov, your Stanford SSO etc.
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.