NIH Common Forms Implementation: SciENcv requirement for Biosketch and Other Support
The NIH released Notice NOT-OD-26-018, announcing the implementation of Common Forms for the Biographical Sketch, the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement and Current and Pending (Other) Support for due dates on or after January 25, 2026. These Common Forms are required for applications, RPPRs, JITs, and any other actions that require biographical sketches or other support documentation.
Effective January 25, 2026, NIH and AHRQ require the following documents to be developed, certified, and downloaded through SciENcv:
Biographical Sketch
NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement (new document)
Current and Pending (Other) Support
All senior/key personnel listed on applications, RPPRs, or JITs will be required to:
Link an ORCID iD to their eRA Commons account
Personally certify their bios and other support pages via SciENcv
Certify they are not participating in a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program
Failure to use NIH's SciENcv format with updated signed certifications for all senior/key personnel will result in error and block submission.
Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Programs (MFTRP) Certification:
MFTRPs are initiatives sponsored by countries such as China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea that offer incentives (cash, travel, titles) to researchers. Notable examples include programs associated within China's Academy of Military Medical Sciences. The U.S. government does not maintain a comprehensive list of MFTRPS; instead it defines "malign" based on criteria outlined in the CHIPS and Science Act.
Individuals who participate in a Malign Foreign Talent Recruitment Program are not eligible to serve as a senior/key person on federal proposals.
Expanded Documentation Requirements:
For Other Support submissions, NIH may request copies of supporting documentation for certain foreign relationships and resources during JIT or post-award compliance checks. Documents include:
- Employment or appointment agreements with non-U.S. entities (e.g., contracts, letters of appointment).
- Contracts or sponsored agreements awarded to the foreign entity where the researcher is named as PI or holds another role.
- Agreements for in-kind support, such as: Access to lab space, facilities, or equipment; Provision of personnel or funding; Other resources supporting research activities, regardless of location.
Key Changes:
- All applicants and key personnel will be required to use SciENcv to complete Common Forms to produce digitally certified documents in pdf format.
- All key personnel will need an NCBI account to create a biosketch in SciENcv. If new to My NCBI, this resource page provides information on setting up a My NCBI login.
- All key personnel will be required to enter their ORCID iD in the Persistent Identifier (PI) section of the Common Forms.
- All key personnel will also need to link their ORCID iD with eRA Commons. Click here for details.
- All key personnel will need to agree with the certification statements before these can be downloaded and added to a proposal record, RPPR, or JIT.
- Rather than including citations within the personal statement and contributions to science, key personnel must instead include a list of products that demonstrate their qualifications to carry out the project as proposed in the "Products" section.
- The personal statement (without any citations) will now be part of the NIH Biosketch Supplement, along with Honors and Contributions to Science.
How Research Administrators can Prepare for an Effective Transition:
- Create your own SciENcv account. This is required for you to be added as a delegate.
- Provide an overview of key changes to faculty within your department.
- Ensure faculty:
- have ORCID ID and SciENcv accounts set up, and that the ORCID ID is linked with their eRA Commons accounts.
- update their profiles in eRA Commons to facilitate importing data into the Biosketch form.
- assign you access in SciENcv as their delegate. Note: Once initiated by the faculty, staff must click on the delegate email received from SciENcv within three days of receipt to avoid the faculty member having to complete this a second time.
- Delegates can only generate PDFs for certified documents. If the document is not certified by faculty, the delegates will see a Certification Required warning.
- Ensure all senior/key personnel complete Current and Pending (Other) Support Training. For WCM employees, this is covered in our CITI Research Security Training (combined course).
- Carefully coordinate with collaborators and consultants, as they will be subject to the same requirements even if not included in the budget.
- Attend the upcoming RAISE training session on Tuesday, January 6th from 11-12pm. Click HERE to register