Effective January 25, 2026, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are requiring the use of Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Pending (Other) Support documents.
Per NIH Notice NOT-OD-26-018:
General Information for Completing Common Forms
- NIH will require the use of SciENcv to complete Common Forms [i.e., Biographical Sketch, Current and Pending (Other) Support] and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement to produce digitally certified PDF(s).
- All individuals required to submit one of the above documents to NIH must:
- Obtain an Open Researcher and Contributor Identifier (ORCID iD).
- Link their ORCID iD to their eRA Commons account. For information on linking an ORCID iD to the eRA Commons account see the ORCID iD topic in the eRA Commons online help.
- Confirm their ORCID iD is displayed in the Persistent Identifier (PID) section of the Common Forms.
- NIH will require certification from each individual (not their delegate) of their own form(s) in SciENcv acknowledging 1) information is current, accurate, and complete; and 2) at time of submission, they are not a party to a malign foreign talent recruitment program.
Current NIH Technical Issue: The NIH has identified a validation issue in eRA Commons when the new SciENcv documents are included in applications. The NIH is working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible, but applications may receive warnings in the meantime.
Note: Please allow sufficient time for the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) to review applications and help troubleshoot any technical issues that arise. Submitting eRA Commons help desk tickets to document system issues will also be important to ensure that all Pitt proposals and requests to NIH are successfully transmitted. OSP is actively monitoring this situation and will share additional information as the NIH releases updates.
FEDERAL AGENCY ROUNDUP
Stay up-to-date and informed by visiting the Pitt Research Executive Orders and Federal Funding website.