Key Dates

Related Announcements

None

Issued by

NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH (NIH)

Purpose

This Guide Notice informs the extramural community that NIH plans to launch preview versions of the NIH Common Forms within Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv). Users should be able to access these preview versions of the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support Common Forms and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement (along with the corresponding instructions) on or before September 15, 2025.

These preview documents will allow users to save, reopen, and edit the preview forms in the SciENcv module. However, the download PDF functionality will be disabled, and the form(s) and data entered into the preview versions will be deleted and no longer accessible once the official NIH Common Forms become available for preparation and submission, anticipated November 2025.

These preview forms are an opportunity for users to preview the new system functionality and new instructions. These are not the final official versions, and NIH is not seeking any feedback or testing from external users.

Background

The Common Forms represent a collaborative effort between federal research agencies to ensure standard disclosure requirements as outlined in the National Security Presidential Memorandum - 33. Recently, NIH successfully completed our sign-on to the approved Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support (OMB Number 3145-0279 managed by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)).

Throughout this process, NIH has collaborated with SciENcv on the development of the Common Forms in SciENcv for use by NIH applicants and recipients. In addition, SciENcv has completed development on new XML Data Upload functionality to aid applicants and recipients in completion of the Common Forms for NIH’s future implementation. Refer to How do I structure a Current & Pending (Other) Support XML File for SciENcv? for additional information.

To further aid in this successful future implementation, NIH has coordinated with SciENcv to deploy preview versions of the NIH Biographical Sketch Common Form, NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement and NIH Current and Pending (Other) Support Common Form into their production environment for preview by the external community.

Implementation

On or before September 15, 2025, users will find options to create the "NIH Current and Pending (Other) Support PREVIEW Common Form" and "NIH Biographical Sketch PREVIEW Common Form" in SciENcv. To do so, log in to SciENcv and select the “New Document” button.  In the "Create a New Document" modal that appears, the "Document type" drop-down menu will include these two new PREVIEW forms. Select either form and create a new document using any of the listed data source options.

• Note: For the NIH Biographical Sketch Common Form and NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement, you will complete both forms in a single user interface within SciENcv. Selecting the “NIH Biographical Sketch Preview Common Form” will allow you to preview both forms.

For optimal utilization of the preview functionality, and to prepare for the adoption of the Common Forms, it is recommended that users take the following steps prior to creating a document:

• Obtain an Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID iD).
• Associate your ORCID iD account and eRA Commons account with SciENcv.
• Link your ORCID iD to your eRA Commons Personal Profile prior to previewing the forms.
  • For information on linking an ORCID iD to the eRA Commons Personal Profile see the ORCID iD topic in the eRA Commons Online Help.

NIH will post preview versions of the instructions to be used during the Common Forms and NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement preview process. 

NIH will issue a subsequent Guide Notice to announce final details of our Common Forms implementation once NIH has received clearance of the Common Forms from Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork Reduction Act. 

Under no circumstances may applicants or recipients use the preview documents for submissions to NIH. During this preview period, applicants and recipients must continue to use the current NIH Biosketch (generated either through SciENcv or NIH Form Library.docx templates) and Other Support Format Pages for all submissions to NIH until NIH’s official implementation of the Common Forms. Applications that do not comply with these instructions will not be accepted for review.

Resources

Preview versions of the NIH Common Form instructions can be found in the NIH Forms Directory

Users can find information on SciENcv in the My NCBI Help of the NCBI Bookshelf.

Additional resources will be posted on the pages above as they become available.

Inquiries

Please direct all inquiries to:

For Policy Related Questions, please direct inquiries to:

NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA)

[email protected]

For Technical Questions Related to the Use of SciENcv, please direct inquiries to:

SciENcv Helpdesk

[email protected]