If you searched for a blank “NIH biosketch template” to download, fill in, and upload, the short answer is: that file no longer exists. For due dates on or after January 25, 2026, NIH requires the Biographical Sketch Common Form plus a separate NIH Biosketch Supplement, and both are produced only inside SciENcv — there is no fillable Word document or PDF to download and upload instead. This guide covers where the current form actually lives, what each field requires, and the compliance dates that turned this from a suggestion into a hard system error.
Last verified: August 16, 2026. NIH periodically revises Common Forms guidance — if you are reading this more than a few months after that date, cross-check the current instructions at NIH’s own Biographical Sketch Common Form page before submitting.
Why old “biosketch template” downloads are wrong now
The NIH biosketch has changed format at least twice in the last decade: a free-text Word document before 2016, a fillable five-page PDF organized into Sections A–D (Personal Statement, Positions/Honors, Contributions to Science, and, for fellowships, Scholastic Performance) from 2016 through late 2025, and now the Common Form. Departmental boilerplate files, older blog posts, and cached university pages still circulating under the name “NIH biosketch template” are almost always the retired Sections A–D PDF. Since May 8, 2026, submitting that structure no longer just draws a program-officer note — it fails eRA Commons/ASSIST validation outright (see the timeline below). If a “template” you find is a static Word or PDF file rather than a link to SciENcv, treat it as outdated.
The 2026 compliance timeline
| Notice | What it did | Effective |
|---|---|---|
| NOT-OD-26-018 | Implemented the Biographical Sketch Common Form and Current and Pending (Other) Support Common Form, plus the new NIH Biosketch Supplement, replacing the Sections A–D narrative format | Applications/reports with due dates on or after January 25, 2026 |
| NOT-OD-26-033 | Extended the initial grace period during which non-compliant submissions triggered warnings rather than blocking errors | Leniency extended through May 7, 2026 |
| NOT-OD-26-079 | Ended the leniency period: eRA Commons/ASSIST system validations for the Common Forms became hard errors that block submission | May 8, 2026 onward |
In practice this means any biosketch attached to an application due on or after May 8, 2026 must be the current Common Form output from SciENcv, with a linked ORCID iD and completed certification, or the submission will not go through — not a courtesy warning.
How to actually get the current form
- Confirm your ORCID iD is linked to your eRA Commons account. The Common Form’s Persistent Identifier field requires this link, and it’s a prerequisite for SciENcv to pull your profile correctly. See CASRAI’s step-by-step guide to linking ORCID, eRA Commons, and My NCBI/SciENcv if you haven’t done this yet.
- Sign in to SciENcv at ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv, either directly with your NCBI/My NCBI account or through the eRA Commons single sign-on link, since SciENcv is where NIH generates the Common Form — there is no separate upload path.
- Start a new “NIH Biographical Sketch” document. SciENcv builds the Biographical Sketch Common Form and the NIH Biosketch Supplement together, in one interface, because NIH submission systems expect them as a single paired PDF output.
- Complete each section using the field requirements below. SciENcv can import citations from My Bibliography and ORCID to populate the Products and Contributions to Science sections, reducing manual re-entry.
- Certify electronically. A single certification covers both the Common Form and the Supplement, including an attestation regarding participation in a malign foreign talent recruitment program.
- Export the PDF and attach it to your application package (ASSIST, Grants.gov Workspace, or your institution’s system) exactly as SciENcv generates it — don’t re-typeset the output into another document.
For NIH’s own current instructions and any form revisions issued after this page was verified, start at the Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support policy page.
Field-by-field: what the Common Form and Supplement actually require
| Section | Part | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Identifying Information; Organization and Location | Common Form | Name, Persistent Identifier (your ORCID iD, linked via eRA Commons), position title, organization and location — largely pulled from your linked profile rather than typed fresh each time. |
| A. Professional Preparation | Common Form | Degree-granting education and postdoctoral training, generally in reverse-chronological order. |
| B. Appointments and Positions | Common Form | Academic, research, and other relevant professional appointments held — whether or not remunerated, and whether full-time, part-time, or voluntary (including adjunct, visiting, or honorary roles). |
| C. Products | Common Form | Up to five “Products Closely Related to the Proposed Project” plus up to five “Other Significant Products” (ten total). “Products” is deliberately broader than publications — datasets, software, and patents with a persistent identifier can qualify. No stated page or character limit applies to this section. |
| Certification | Common Form | A single electronic certification covering both the Common Form and the Supplement, completed before export. |
| Personal Statement | Biosketch Supplement | A statement of fit for the proposed role, capped at roughly 3,500 characters; room to note efforts supporting an inclusive research environment where relevant. |
| Honors | Biosketch Supplement | A bounded list of awards and recognitions. |
| Contributions to Science | Biosketch Supplement | Up to five narrative descriptions of significant scientific contributions, each capped at roughly 2,000 characters, with supporting citations. |
Note that the rigid five-page cap from the old format is gone; it’s been replaced by these per-field limits, and Section D (Scholastic Performance, formerly used only on fellowship applications) has been eliminated outright.
Want to see these fields filled in with realistic content rather than just the requirements? CASRAI’s companion page, the NIH Biosketch Worked Example, walks through a fully filled-in, illustrative sample mapped section-by-section to this same structure.
Common mistakes that now trigger hard errors
- Downloading and submitting an old Word or PDF “biosketch template.” Any static file circulating as a fillable template predates the Common Form and will not pass validation on submissions due May 8, 2026 or later.
- Submitting the retired Sections A–D structure (Personal Statement, Positions and Honors, Contributions to Science, Scholastic Performance) instead of the Common Form plus Supplement.
- An unlinked ORCID iD. If your ORCID iD isn’t connected to your eRA Commons account, the Persistent Identifier field can’t populate correctly, which is exactly the kind of gap the hard-error validation introduced by NOT-OD-26-079 now catches.
- Treating “Products” as publications-only. Datasets, software, and patents with a persistent identifier are eligible and often strengthen a Products section beyond a plain publication list.
- Exporting before both parts are complete. Because the Common Form and Supplement share one certification and one PDF export, an incomplete Supplement can hold up the entire document.
- Assuming this format applies everywhere. It governs due dates on or after January 25, 2026 for NIH; other agencies run their own Common Form implementations on their own timelines (NSF’s biographical sketch mandate through SciENcv predates NIH’s by several years).
Frequently asked questions
Is there a downloadable NIH biosketch template (Word or PDF)?
No. NIH’s own forms directory notes there is no upload option for the Biographical Sketch Common Form — it must be built inside SciENcv, which then exports the PDF NIH expects. Any standalone Word or PDF “template” you find elsewhere reflects an older, retired format.
What actually changed in the new (2026) NIH biosketch format?
The single narrative document (Sections A–D, capped at five pages) was replaced by two linked documents: the Biographical Sketch Common Form (Professional Preparation, Appointments and Positions, Products) and a separate NIH Biosketch Supplement (Personal Statement, Honors, Contributions to Science). The five-page cap was replaced by per-field character and entry limits, and Section D (Scholastic Performance) was eliminated.
Do I have to use SciENcv, or can I write the biosketch by hand and format it myself?
SciENcv has been the required biosketch-preparation tool since 2021, and for the Common Form specifically there is currently no alternative upload path — you cannot produce a NIH-compliant Common Form PDF by hand outside SciENcv.
Is the NIH biosketch template the same as NSF’s?
Both agencies build their biographical sketches through SciENcv and share the general Common Form concept that came out of NSPM-33, but the specific documents differ: NSF’s Synergistic Activities, for example, is a separate one-page document prepared outside SciENcv, and NSF’s mandate predates NIH’s. See CASRAI’s NSF Biographical Sketch worked example for the NSF-specific version.
What happens if I submit the old format after May 8, 2026?
Per NOT-OD-26-079, submissions that don’t pass Common Forms validation are blocked by hard system errors in eRA Commons/ASSIST as of that date — not just a warning, an actual submission failure.
Where do I start if I’ve never used SciENcv before?
Link your ORCID iD to your eRA Commons account first (see CASRAI’s ORCID-to-SciENcv linking guide), then sign in to SciENcv and start a new NIH Biographical Sketch document; for the full click-by-click walkthrough from sign-in through export, see CASRAI’s guide to creating your NIH and NSF biosketch in SciENcv. NIH’s Common Forms policy page has the current, authoritative instructions.
See also: CASRAI’s NIH biosketch vs. UKRI R4RI comparison for researchers working across US and UK funders, and the dictionary entries for Biosketch (NIH-style) and Biosketch generally.
