Preparing for the NIH Common Forms

In July 2024, the NIH announced a requirement for all grant proposals to use federal Common Forms for the NIH biosketch and for the Other Support document, and that these documents must be prepared using the NIH platform SciENcv. The date for this mandated use was originally postponed, but the NIH recently updated the timeline and the new target for implementation is the beginning of 2026. NOT-OD-25-152.

Alongside this implementation each senior and key personnel applicant is required to have an ORCiD, and to link their ORCiD to their eRA Commons account (if the investigator has an existing Commons account).

To support this transition, NIH launched PREVIEW versions of the Common Forms in SciENcv on September 10, 2025. These previews are not the final forms, and applicants should continue using the current forms until the change is finalized. While the preview versions are not the official versions, they offer researchers an early chance to explore the system, understand the updated instructions and prepare for the eventual mandate. (PREVIEW) Current and Pending (Other) Support (CPOS) Common Form.

What This Change Means for NIH Applicants

The shift to the Common Forms is a part of the larger NIH initiative to strengthen compliance with federal policy, streamline grant management, and ensure researchers receive proper visibility and credit for their work. By standardizing disclosure requirements across agencies, these updates aim to reduce administrative burden while improving the accuracy and transparency of research records.

For NIH applicants and recipients, this means:

• Biosketches and Other Support will use Common Forms adopted by multiple federal funding agencies.
• SciENcv will be the required platform for generating and submitting these forms.
• ORCID iDs will be required to link to eRA Commons and SciENcv.

How to Prepare

Even though this mandate will not take effect until 2026, there are several steps Feinberg investigators can take now to ensure a smooth transition later:

• Obtain an ORCID iD: If you do not yet have one, now is the time. ORCID provides a persistent digital identifier that connects your research outputs and professional activities across platforms. Visit our ORCID GalterGuide.
• Link your ORCID iD to key accounts: These connections reduce duplicate data entry and will be vital once SciENcv becomes required.
  • Northwestern NetID and Northwestern Elements profile (for faculty)
  • eRA Commons Personal Profile
  • MyNCBI/SciENcv accounts
• Visit our GalterGuide: Using SciENcv to Create an NIH Biosketch and Other Support Documents to learn more about the upcoming requirements.

Resources

At Galter Library, in partnership with Northwestern Sponsored Research and our Research Administration Professionals, we are monitoring the NIH announcements and updates and will continue to update the Feinberg community as more information becomes available.

To support researchers as we prepare for this transition, our librarians continue to offer workshops and consultations on both Using SciENcv for the NIH Biosketch and ORCID.

You can also visit these guides in NUIT Knowledge Base for step-by-step additional information:

• Quick Guide for Faculty: Compliance with NIH's Adoption of Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support
• Quick Guide for Research Administrators: Compliance with NIH's Adoption of Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support

For questions or support, please reach out to Pamela Shaw, Research Policy Librarian and NIH Public Access Compliance Reporter, or email our reference desk at ghsl-ref@northwestern.edu.