Biosketch

A biosketch (biographical sketch) is the short, page-limited document that US federal funding agencies require for every senior/key person named on a grant application. It is not a CV: length, section order and permitted content are fixed by the agency, and a biosketch that does not follow the current format can stop a proposal from being submitted at all. NIH and NSF each require their own version, both are now built inside SciENcv rather than typed as a free-form document, and the two are not interchangeable.

NIH biosketch

The NIH biographical sketch covers a personal statement justifying the researcher’s role on the proposed project, positions and honours, contributions to science, and ongoing or recent support. NIH moved to the Biographical Sketch Common Form plus a separate NIH Biosketch Supplement for due dates on or after January 25, 2026, replacing the older five-page, Sections A–D narrative format. Since May 8, 2026, submitting the retired format no longer draws a program-officer note — it fails eRA Commons/ASSIST validation outright, as a hard system error rather than a warning. For a complete filled-in sample and section-by-section annotations, see NIH Biosketch Worked Example, and for the current form’s field-by-field requirements, see the NIH biosketch template guide.

NSF biosketch

NSF requires the biographical sketch and the companion Current and Pending (Other) Support document to be generated in SciENcv rather than typed as a free-form document — mandatory at NSF since October 2023. The structure is similar to NIH’s but the sections and validation rules differ, so an NIH biosketch cannot simply be reused for an NSF proposal.

Which one you need

Match the biosketch to the agency and the specific funding opportunity announcement, not to a template you already have on file. Both agencies now build the document through SciENcv, which keeps a researcher’s profile in one place and exports the correct agency-specific module; linking an ORCID record to SciENcv reduces the re-keying involved.

Who checks it before submission, and what they actually look for

A biosketch is normally reviewed twice before it ever reaches the agency: once by the department or lab that assembles the proposal packet, and again by the institution’s sponsored-programs (pre-award) office as part of its routing and compliance sign-off. Neither review is a formality — both exist because an out-of-date or malformed biosketch is one of the more common reasons a submission is rejected outright rather than merely flagged.

What a pre-award reviewer typically checks, beyond the obvious page or section-count limit:

• Current format, not a retired one. A file matching the old NIH Sections A–D narrative, or a hand-typed document that never went through SciENcv, is treated as non-compliant regardless of how well-written it is.
• A linked, working persistent identifier. NIH’s Common Form and NSF’s biosketch both key off a linked ORCID iD; an unlinked or mismatched ORCID is one of the more common causes of a document that looks complete but fails system validation.
• Every named senior/key person has one on file — not just the PI. A proposal with a complete PI biosketch and a missing or outdated one for a co-investigator or consultant is still an incomplete packet.
• Certification completed, for NIH submissions where the Common Form and Biosketch Supplement share a single electronic certification — an unfinished Supplement can hold up an otherwise-complete Common Form.
• Consistency with Current and Pending (Other) Support. Reviewers commonly cross-check that positions, appointments and support listed in the biosketch don’t contradict what the same person disclosed in the separate Other Support document, since agencies read the two together.

Because this check happens at the routing stage, catching a format problem early is a scheduling issue as much as a compliance one: a biosketch sent back for correction close to a submission deadline is one of the more preventable causes of a late or incomplete application.

Checking this against the current guidance

Who in your own institution is expected to catch a stale biosketch format before it reaches the agency — and exactly what a pre-submission compliance check is supposed to confirm — is an internal research-office question this entry describes only in general terms. The answer depends on which agency and which office’s own routing checklist you’re working to.

Ask CASRAI: Who in a research office is actually responsible for catching an out-of-date biosketch format before submission — the department, the sponsored-programs office, or the PI — and what specifically does that check look for beyond the page or word limits?

It searches CASRAI’s indexed corpus of research-administration guidance and cites the passage behind each claim, so you can open the source and check it rather than take its word — and it says so when the corpus does not cover something instead of guessing. Two questions a day are free while you are signed out, no account and no card. Everything CASRAI publishes stays free to read.

Frequently asked questions

Can I reuse the same biosketch across an NIH and an NSF proposal?

No. Both agencies build the biosketch through SciENcv and share the general concept, but the specific sections, page/character limits, and validation rules differ enough that a document formatted for one agency will not pass compliance review, let alone system validation, for the other.

What happens if a co-investigator’s biosketch is missing or out of date?

The application is treated as incomplete, the same as if the PI’s own biosketch were missing. Every named senior/key person needs a current, correctly formatted biosketch on file, not just the PI.

Does linking ORCID to SciENcv actually matter, or is it optional?

It matters. Both NIH’s Common Form and NSF’s current biosketch module rely on a linked, working ORCID iD as the persistent identifier; an unlinked or mismatched ORCID is a common, avoidable cause of a document that looks finished but fails validation.

Who is responsible for catching a biosketch that still uses a retired format?

Both the department assembling the proposal and the sponsored-programs office reviewing it before submission are normally expected to catch this, but institutional practice varies in exactly where that check sits in the routing workflow — confirm your own office’s process rather than assuming it happens automatically.

Is a biosketch the same document as Current and Pending (Other) Support?

No. They are separate, companion documents that agencies read together. The biosketch establishes qualifications and past contributions; Current and Pending (Other) Support discloses active and pending research support. Reviewers commonly check that the two are consistent with each other.

References

• NIH Biographical Sketch Common Form and Supplement
• NSF Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), Biographical Sketch requirements
• SciENcv (NCBI) agency module documentation