NIH Common Forms (SciENcv) Playbook (2026)

This site is a PI + admin team guide to preparing NIH’s required Common Forms in SciENcv:

  • NIH Biosketch = Biographical Sketch Common Form + NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement
  • Current and Pending (Other) Support = CPOS Common Form

Independent guide, not official NIH/NCBI guidance. Verify details in References.

Effective date: NIH requires Common Forms for applications, JIT, RPPR, and Prior Approval submissions on/after Jan 25, 2026. Current enforcement status: For application due dates and JIT, RPPR, and Prior Approval submissions on/after May 8, 2026, eRA system validations stop submissions that do not use compliant Common Forms. See Policy & Timeline.

Start here (role-based)

The two biggest success factors

  1. Identity + data plumbing is correct (ORCID linked to eRA Commons; ORCID appears as the SciENcv PID; My Bibliography clean).
  2. Workflow timing accounts for individual certification in SciENcv (delegates cannot certify).
flowchart LR
    accTitle: Common Forms success path
    accDescr: A high-level path from identity setup through SciENcv drafting, individual certification, and submission-ready PDFs.
    A["Identity setup"] --> B["Data cleanup"]
    B --> C["SciENcv drafts"]
    C --> D{"Named individual certifies?"}
    D -- "Yes" --> E["Download certified PDFs"]
    D -- "No" --> F["Hold submission package"]
    E --> G["Submit unmodified SciENcv PDFs"]
    F --> D

What’s inside

  • A fast checklist for each role
  • Step-by-step “how-to” pages for SciENcv biosketch and CPOS
  • Templates (Personal Statement, Contributions, intake forms, email nudges)
  • Troubleshooting and common eRA validation failures
  • Curated references (NIH + institutional guides)