PI / Faculty quickstart (15 minutes)

Do this now (before the first deadline)

1. Create ORCID iD (if you don’t have one).
2. Link ORCID to eRA Commons (Personal Profile → ORCID section).
3. Confirm SciENcv access (MyNCBI dashboard → SciENcv).
4. Link ORCID to MyNCBI/SciENcv if you plan to use ORCID-linked import workflows (MyNCBI Account Settings → Linked Accounts).
5. Add a delegate (optional but recommended) (MyNCBI Account Settings → Delegates).
6. Clean up My Bibliography (missing papers, wrong authorship, PMCID status).
7. Pick your 10 “Products”:
   • 5 “Closely Related” (to support your Personal Statement)
   • 5 “Other Significant” (to support your Contributions)
8. Draft or update:
   • Personal Statement (3,500 characters; no citations)
   • Up to 5 Contributions (2,000 characters each; no citations)
   • Honors (up to 15)
9. Certify + download required PDFs in SciENcv (always the biosketch; CPOS when NIH requests it for your role and submission type).
10. Never print/flatten the SciENcv PDF.

For many NIH applications, CPOS is requested later (often during JIT) rather than attached at initial submission. Important exception: mentored career development applications require CPOS for mentor/co-mentor(s), not for the candidate.

When an admin helps

Your delegate can do almost everything except certification. Plan a “certify window” into the submission timeline.

Next: Create the biosketch document in SciENcv