Attention NIH researchers—the NIH is adopting the use of Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support to be used with all applications and Research Performance Progress Reports (RPPRs) by May 25, 2025. Establishing Common Forms is a collaborative effort between Federal research agencies to harmonize disclosure requirements related to biographical sketches & Current and Pending (Other) Support, as described in the National Security Presidential Memorandum – 33.
What does this mean for researchers? Beginning on May 25, 2025:
• NIH will require grant applicants/recipients to use Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support, instead of the NIH-specific format pages currently in use. Please see NOT-OD-24-163 for details.
• NIH will require the use of Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) to complete and certify the Common Forms (i.e., Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support). SciENcv will generate a digitally certified PDF for your application.
• NIH will require all Senior/Key Personnel to enter their ORCID ID into SciENcv in the Persistent Identifier (PID) section of the Common Forms. In addition, NIH will require that all Senior/Key Personnel link to their ORCID ID to their eRA Commons Personal Profile. For additional information, please see the eRA ORCID ID FAQ page.
Until the Common Forms have been fully adopted by the NIH, grant applicants should use the current NIH Biosketch and Other Support formats for applications, JIT Reports and RPPRs.
Please note that the Common Forms do not require certain elements that NIH currently does—specifically the Personal Statement, Contributions to Science, and Honors fields. NIH is creating a new Biographical Sketch Supplement to collect those details.
What you can do now to prepare?
• Register for your ORCID ID (go to https://orcid.org/signin) and if you already have one, make sure your profile is up-to-date. You can use your ORCID profile to populate your biosketch in SciENcv!
• Learn more about how to create a biosketch in SciENcv. See Use SciENcv for Your Biosketch! and Creating a BioSketch Using ScENcv (video tutorial)
To stay on top of NIH updates related to changes to grant application forms , please see NIH’s central webpage on Changes Coming in January 2025. In addition, check out the FAQs for Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support.
If you need further assistance, please contact medical-librarian@duke.edu.