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Biosketch Resources and Training

Guidance on NIH and NSF biosketches and the SciENcv biosketch tool.

Biosketches

A biosketch or biographical sketch is the formatted CV (Curriculum Vitae) required for NIH, AHRQ, and NSF grant applications.

The NIH biosketch is required for all NIH and AHRQ grant applications. Investigators are asked to describe up to five Contributions to Science (Section C), and can include citations in this section and in the Personal Statement (Section A). Applicants have the option to include a link (.gov URLs only) to a full list of their published work such as My Bibliography.

SciENcv logo

SciENcv (Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae) is a free tool you can use to generate an NIH biosketch using information in your My Bibliography account, eRA Commons account, and ORCID account.  My Bibliography and SciENcv can both be found in your My NCBI account. My Bibliography should be set up before you set up SciENcv.

Visit Frequently Asked Questions about NIH biosketches for more information. Blank templates, instructions, and sample biosketches are also available.

The NSF biosketch is required for all NSF grant applications. Investigators are asked to provide a list of their education and training, list their appointments and positions, and list up to five synergistic activities that demonstrate the broader impact of their work. They may also include up to five products closely related to the proposed project and an additional five significant products that can be unrelated to the proposed project.

SciENcv logo

SciENcv (Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae) is a free tool you must use to generate a NSF biosketch using information in your My Bibliography account and ORCID account. My Bibliography and SciENcv can both be found in your My NCBI account. My Bibliography should be set up before you set up SciENcv.

Visit the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) for more information.

Biosketch training

Compliant biosketches - checklist

NIH Biosketch FAQs

NSF Biographical Sketch website

Full NSF Biosketch description

Note: Synergistic Activities was removed from the NSF biosketch for grants submitted after May 20, 2024. They are now submitted as a separate form. See PAPPG Chapter II.D.2.h(iv) for additional information.

Tools to help generate a compliant biosketch

Step 1: Do you already have a My NCBI account?

Yes

No

Log into My NCBI and link it to your eRA Commons account.

  1. Access your account settings page from the account menu available under your user name in the upper right-hand corner.
  2. Scroll to linked accounts and select Add account.
  3. Search for eRA Commons and login to link. If successful, eRA Commons will be listed under linked accounts.  

Follow this same process to link other accounts like your ORCID.

 Use your eRA Commons credentials to create a My NCBI account which will automatically link your My NCBI and eRA Commons accounts.

My NCBI Linked Accounts section of Accounts Setting page with eRA Commons, ORCID, University of Massachusetts Medical School, and Login.Gov accounts shown in the table

Linking your eRA Commons account to your My NCBI account will permit auto-population of some sections of SciENcv.

Problems linking your NCBI and eRA Commons accounts?  Contact one of the librarians listed on this page! Or email info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Provide your NCBI user name, eRA Commons user name, and the email address(es) associated with the accounts.

Yes

No

Great! If you want to pull products from your ORCID and your NSF Researcher accounts, you will need to log into My NCBI and link them.

  1. Access your account settings page from the account menu available under your user name in the upper right-hand corner.
  2. Scroll to linked accounts and select Add account.
  3. Search for ORCID or NSF Researcher and login to link. If successful, the new account will be listed under linked accounts.  

Follow this same process to link other accounts to My NCBI.

Use your NSF Researcher login to create a My NCBI account which will automatically link your My NCBI to your NSF Researcher login.

You can also link your ORCID account to My NCBI by following the instructions on the left.

Problems linking your NCBI and ORCID or NSF Researcher Login accounts?  Contact one of the librarians listed on this page! Or email info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Provide your NCBI user name, ORCID ID/ NSF ID, and the email address(es) associated with the accounts.

Step 2: Manage your citations

My Bibliography is a citation management tool that helps you save your citations directly from PubMed and other sources. You can include a link to My Bibliography in your NIH biosketch to provide a full list of your publications.

To add citations to My Bibliography:

1. Log in to My NCBI.
2. Search for all of your publications in PubMed.  Use the “send to” menu on the search results page to send the citations to My Bibliography.
3. Use the account menu in the upper right corner to access My Bibliography. Your My Bibliography should be populated with all of your citations.

  • If you have authored additional publications that are included in PubMed, open the "Add Citations" menu and select "From PubMed" to search for these citations.
  • If you have authored additional publications that aren’t included in PubMed, you can add them from a file (such as RIS) or you can manually add them to My Bibliography. To add manually, open the "Add Citations" menu and select "Manually".  Select the template for the type of publication you want to add (journal that doesn't appear in PubMed, books/chapters, meeting abstracts, presentations, patents, dataset, software, interim products such as preprints) and fill in the form. 

5. At the top of the page is a link to make your bibliography “public.”  When you select this, it will display the “public URL” that you can paste into your NIH biosketch.
6. Keep your My Bibliography up-to-date by periodically adding citations for your newly-published articles. (Hint: Set up a search alert for your publications.)

To set up a PubMed search alert for an author's publications:

PubMed saved search form for Elinor Karlsson author search using the search terms (elinor karlsson[Author]) OR (karlsson ek[Author]) set to monthly email frequency, highest number of items to be received, and a note in the "Optional text in email" field to Send new publications to Dr. Karlsson's My Bibliography and update ORCID account

ORCID provides a free, unique identifier for a researcher that integrates with My NCBI and other manuscript and grant submission workflows. Registering for an ORCID identifier helps to promote discoverability and to establish a unique presence for researchers and scholars, regardless of name variants or affiliation history.

To register for an ORCID, visit the ORCID website. 

  1. Register (allowing everyone to view your ORCID record is helpful for distinguishing you)
  2. Add your education, work affiliation, and all the variations of your name
  3. Use ORCID's automated tools to add your publications to your profile
  4. Use your ORCID -- Add your iD to your email signature, eRA Commons Personal Profile, manuscript and grant submissions, and social network accounts
  5. Review your profile each time you publish new scholarship

Step 3: Create your biosketch in SciENcv

SciENcv is a recommended tool designed to facilitate the creation of biosketches for NIH and required for NSF grant applications.

SciENcv links your biographical information from available sources, such as eRA Commons (education and work experience), with your publications that have been saved in your My Bibliography account or ORCID account.

First, set up your My Bibliography or ORCID as outlined in Step 2 above.  Then follow these steps for the NIH or NSF:

  1. Log into My NCBI.
  2. Ensure that your NCBI account is linked to your eRA Commons account as outlined in Step 1 above.  
  3. In My NCBI, find the SciENcv box.  Select "Create New Document". If you have already created a biosketch, select "Manage SciENcv" then "Create New Document".
  4. Choose NIH Biosketch or NIH Fellowship Biosketch as format based on the grant requirements.
  5. Choose External Source as the data source and select eRA Commons. 
  6. Choose Private as privacy setting. 
  1. Log into My NCBI.
  2. Ensure that your NCBI account is linked to your NSF Researcher account as outlined in Step 1 above.
  3. On your My NCBI dashboard, find the SciENcv box.  Select "Create New Document." If you have already created a biosketch, select "Manage SciENcv" then "Create New Document".
  4. Choose NSF Biographical Sketch as format.
  5. Choose External Source as the data source and select National Science Foundation or ORCID (if linked).
  6. Choose Private as privacy setting. 

For future proposals, you can create a new biosketch using Existing Document as the data source to reuse elements.

SciENcv has templates for each section of the biosketch that make it easy to add and update information. Review SciENcv Help for specific directions on how to edit SciENcv profiles.

SciENcv homepage with list of SciENcv documents

Delegating access to My Bibliography and SciENcv

Delegates section of My NCBI account settings with one delegate listed with access to both My Bibliography and SciENcv

In your NCBI Account Settings, scroll down to the Delegates section, select "Add delegate", and enter the delegate's email address.

Your delegate will receive an email notifying them of access and will need to select the link in the email to activate access. Your delegate will be asked to create a My NCBI account if they do not already have one.

The default, once the delegate confirms, is access to both My Bibliography and SciENcv but this can be adjusted.

SciENcv recommendations and tips

  • Create a Primary Biosketch that you can copy and edit for subsequent biosketches/proposals. Create this initial biosketch using eRA Commons as the external data source to pull in employment and education information. You can create multiple biosketches within SciENcv so that you can tailor your biosketch for each new grant application.
  • Sections A and C have functionality to edit descriptions and select publications from My Bibliography. 
    • Citations can be re-used in a biosketch.
    • You can identify up to 4 citations in Section A with your Personal Statement.
    • Note that Section C allows you to create a tab for each Contribution to Science (up to 5). You can add, delete, and edit contributions as needed. List up to 4 citations with each contribution.
  • Try not to export and modify Word versions of biosketches. The value of SciENcv is that it can house all of your data, which can then be reused within the system to create new biosketches.  But if your biosketch is close to the 5-page limit, one technique to save space is to download your biosketch from SciENcv in Word format and edit out white space. (Just don't forget to save it again in PDF format for the application.)
  • For guidance on Contributions to Science, consult with your colleagues who are grant reviewers and consider contacting the Program Director at the NIH institute/center supporting or most likely to support your award.
     

Create a Primary Biosketch that you can copy and edit for subsequent biosketches/proposals. Create this initial biosketch using the National Science Foundation or ORCID as the external data source to pull in employment and education information. You can create multiple biosketches within SciENcv so that you can tailor your biosketch for each new grant application.

Resources and strategies

General

NIH

NSF