How to write an NIH biosketch under the Common Forms

If you last wrote an NIH biosketch in 2025, the new one will look familiar in places and unfamiliar in others. The content NIH wants hasn't changed much: who you are, what you've done and why you fit the project. What changed is where you write it, how many products you can list and who signs it.

What changed in January 2026?

For applications due on or after January 25, 2026, NIH requires biosketches built in SciENcv as a federal Common Form plus an NIH-specific supplement, instead of the old NIH template.

The change comes from a government-wide effort to standardize the biographical sketch and current and pending (other) support forms across federal research funders. NIH implemented it in notice NOT-OD-26-018. In practice that means:

• The biosketch is created in SciENcv, the free tool run by the National Library of Medicine's NCBI.
• It has two parts: the Biographical Sketch Common Form and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement.
• SciENcv produces one PDF containing both, which the person certifies.
• An ORCID iD is required.

NIH announced a period of leniency around the switch. Policy around it has been updated more than once, so check the latest notices before relying on any exception.

What goes in the Common Form?

The Common Form covers identifying information, professional preparation, appointments and positions, and a capped list of products.

The products limit forces choices. Pick items that show you can do the proposed work. For a trainee or early-career scientist, a preprint or a dataset can count as a product when you haven't published much yet.

What goes in the NIH supplement?

The NIH supplement holds the narrative parts: the personal statement, honors, and up to five contributions to science.

The personal statement explains why you're well suited to your role on this specific application. Write it fresh for each application. A sponsor on a fellowship describes their mentoring record and how they will support the fellow; a fellowship applicant describes their goals and how the training plan gets them there.

Contributions to science describe up to five areas of work and their significance. University research offices note that you can refer to products listed in the Common Form here but can't use this section to slip in additional citations, so choose the Common Form products with this section in mind.

How do you set up SciENcv and ORCID?

Create or confirm an ORCID iD, link it to your eRA Commons profile, sign in to SciENcv through your NCBI account, and start a new document using the NIH Common Form option.

1. Get an ORCID iD at orcid.org if you don't have one, and fill in your education and employment there.
2. Link the ORCID iD to your eRA Commons personal profile.
3. Sign in to SciENcv and choose the NIH Biographical Sketch Common Form, not the older NIH biosketch format.
4. Import what you can. If you had an older biosketch in SciENcv, there may be an option to copy content into the new form.
5. Add delegates if an administrator or mentor will help with editing.
6. Preview the draft, then certify and download the final PDF.

Do the ORCID and eRA Commons steps early. They are quick, but they depend on accounts that people often can't log in to the week before a deadline.

What do training program teams need to plan for?

Every faculty member listed on a training grant needs a certified Common Form biosketch, so collect them on a schedule rather than in the last week.

A T32 or T34 application can list dozens of participating faculty. Under the old system, an administrator could tidy a stack of Word files. Now each person certifies their own PDF, and any later change means editing in SciENcv and certifying again.

A workable approach:

• Send faculty a one-page instruction sheet and a deadline six to eight weeks before submission.
• Ask for the personal statement to mention the trainees and the program by name.
• Track who has an ORCID iD linked and who has certified, in one shared list.
• Leave a week for corrections, because one typo means a fresh certification.

Our guide to writing a training grant application places biosketches in the overall schedule, and the grant timeline builder works backward from your due date so the biosketch deadline lands in the right week. If you're applying for an individual award, the fellowships profile explains which mechanisms exist.

What are the most common mistakes?

Editing the certified PDF, forgetting the ORCID link, and reusing a personal statement written for a different application.

• Changing the PDF after download. Any edit voids the certification.
• Starting from the old NIH format in SciENcv instead of the Common Form.
• Listing more products than allowed, or the wrong mix of related and other products.
• A generic personal statement that never mentions the project or role.
• Waiting for a delegate to certify; only the named person can.

Educational information only, written by independent editors; not official NIH, NIGMS or NSF guidance. Rules, forms and deadlines change, so confirm details in the current notice or funding opportunity before you act on them.