NIH Biosketches

NIH requirements

The NIH has granted a "leniency period" through May, 2026, for submitting the new Common Forms NIH biosketch. The news is published online and states that, "We recognize the difficulties these issues have had on the community’s ability to comply with the original timeline of January 25, 2026. 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 Biosketch Guidelines

Biographical sketches (biosketches) are required for all key personnel (and mentors for training awards). This includes all PIs and Co-Investigators but, in some instances, may also include consultants, advisory board members, community members, and patients. 

NIH recently issued Notice NOT-OD-26-018, in which they confirmed that the new Common Form Biosketch (and Supplement), and the new Current and Pending (Other) Support format will be required for all applications due on or after January 25, 2026. (Please see new leniency period guidelines that now extend this deadline through May, 2026.)

These changes are extensive. As a reminder they include:

  1. Replacing the NIH Biosketch Format with the Biosketch Common Form (PDF).
  2. Requiring the use of SciENcv to complete the Common Form (including a required ORCiD ID).
  3. Adding a new document, the NIH Biosketch Supplement, which will be used to collect the following components not required on the Common Form: the Personal Statement, Honors, and Contributions to Science.

Rules 1 and 2 will also apply to the Current and Pending (Other) Support document. 

The Biosketch Common Form and the new Biosketch Supplement will both be created and certified within SciENcv.

Guidance for training grant personnel may differ slightly. Please see GSU’s Training Grants Biosketch web page for more information.

We strongly encourage faculty and administrative delegates to review Notice NOT-OD-26-018 for a detailed list of major changes. 

Current Page Limit: None.

Getting Started
  • Login Information: Before logging into sciENcv, make sure you have an eRA Commons ID, ORCID ID, and that your publications appears in ORCID.org or MyBibliography. See contact information below if you need support on obtaining any of these.
    • Note: Link your ORCID through the SciENcv “My Profile” section before beginning a new document. Linking your ORCID within the biosketch itself may create an error in which your ORCID ID does not show up on the final downloaded document.
  • Delegate access: In sciENcv, you may assign administrators as delegates to edit your biosketch. Delegates cannot certify the biosketch on your behalf.
  • Select the correct form: Once you have logged into SciENcv, make sure you choose the “NIH Biographical Sketch Common Form” from the dropdown menu. Do not use the other NIH biosketch template, it is outdated and will not be accepted by the NIH for submissions after January 25, 2026. Users may be able to user existing biosketches in sciENcv, or start from a blank form.
Common Form Biosketch Components
  • A. Professional Preparation: Formally called Education and Training, list all degrees and trainings in reverse chronological order. New for 2026, a start date (in addition to an end date), is required. The system will automatically place degrees and trainings in reverse chronological order. There is no limit on the number of professional preparations you may list.
  • B. Appointments and Positions: Select 1 position as your primary appointment or position. List any academic, professional, or institutional positions, regardless of whether they are full or part time, and regardless of whether you receive remuneration. Foreign and domestic appointments, not at your primary institution, must also be listed (up to 3 years).
  • C. Products: You may use the MyBibliography or ORCID tabs (or a combination) to select up to 10 research products/publications to cite.
    • Select up to 5 "Most closely related to the proposed project."
    • Select up to 5 "Other significant products" that highlight the senior/key person’s Contributions to Science. See C. Contribution to Science section in the Biosketch Supplement section below for more information.
    • Note: The order in which you select your products/publications is the order in which they will appear in the final Biosketch. You can also click and drag publications to reorder them.

Reminders:

  • Include the full citation for each product/publication.
  • Research Products can include publications, conference papers, and presentations; website(s) or other Internet site(s); technologies or techniques; inventions, patents, patent applications, and/or licenses; and other products, such as databases, software, etc.
Biosketch Supplement Components
  • A. Personal Statement: Limited to 3,500 characters (approx. ¾ page). Explain your qualifications and relevance including training, previous experimental work, technical expertise, collaborations/scientific environment, and past performance in related fields.
  • B. Honors: Limited to 15 entries; must include licensures and board certifications, if applicable. Postdocs/Junior Faculty should also include scholarships, traineeships, fellowships, and development awards here.
  • C. Contribution to Science: Include up to 5 contributions (minimum of 1 required). Each contribution is limited to 2,000 characters each (approx. ½ page). Briefly describe up to 5 of your most significant contributions to science. Include the historical background, central findings, and influence of the contribution to science as well as your role on the contribution.
    • Note: No citations should be included, but you may include research support (up to 3 years), but it does count toward the 3,500 character limit.
    • A Note on Contributions and Citation: Within your contributions, you may reference the 5 products you have cited in the “Other Significant Products” section of the C. Products part of the Common Form Biosketch. These products/publications may be referenced but cannot include a full citation, i.e., “(significant product #1),” “(Cell, 2019)”, or “(Doe 2024)”. The Contribution to Science section is limited to just those 5 citations; do not list/reference additional publications in any format. Products under development may be discussed in the Contribution.
Formatting Tips for SciENcv

Although sciENcv does not support formatting, basic HTML may be used within the text boxes of the Personal Statement and Contributions to Science. Any HTML coding will count the character limitations. Here are some helpful basic HTML codes:

  • Bold (<b>text</b>)
  • Italics (<i>text</i>)
  • Underline (<u>text</u>)
  • Paragraph break (<br>)
FAQs

Please note that these FAQs are not meant to replace NIH guidelines or their own FAQs, which are linked below. Please also refer to NIH and NOFO guidelines. The following are meant to address frequent questions from the UCLA research community and provide additional clarification. 

Can I (or my delegate) make edits after downloading/certifying the biosketch?

Per NIH instructions, once a PDF has been downloaded and Certified, the file cannot/should not be re-saved/flattened, which means it cannot be edited outside of the sciENcv environment. Editing would also invalidate the certification.  

Not all of my publications are available on ORCID. What do I do about that?  

ORCID: Only publications associated with your ORCiD ID email will show up here. If you have multiple emails, those publications could have been associated with those alternative emails. If this is the case, ORCiD’s website has instructions on how to associate additional email addresses to have the other publications show up: https://support.orcid.org/hc/en-us/articles/18501349590295-Managing-associated-email-addresses. This needs to be done through ORCiD, not through sciENcv.

Alternative Research Products: If publications such as books, book chapters, or other products are not available, it could be because those are not automatically included in ORCiD or MyBibliography. To address this, users can manually add missing publications through their NCBI MyBibliography by clicking on the “Manage My Bibliography” button in sciENcv.

Can a delegate download/certify my biosketch?

A delegate can download a preview of the biosketch, but the certified version that is required for application submissions can only be downloaded by the faculty. If a faculty certifies their biosketch, the delegate may be able to go in and download that same certified version, as long as no additional changes have been made.

Can I change the formatting on the biosketch?

Both the Common Form and Supplement have limited formatting options. As mentioned above, you may be able to use HTML coding to format the Personal Statement and Contribution to Science, but the overall font, margins, footers and headers of the biosketch cannot be edited. 

Where Should I Go for Additional Help? 

Resources