On May 25, 2025, NIH will adopt the Biographical Sketch Common Forms and the Current and Pending (Other) Support Forms for all applications and Research Performance Progress Reports. As part of this effort, investigators will be required to use Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) to complete Common Forms and the NIH Biographical Sketch Supplement to produce digitally certified PDFs for their application submission.
SciENcv—a researcher profile system for anyone who applies for, receives, or is associated with research investments from federal agencies—requires investigators to enter their Open Researcher and Contributor Identification (ORCID) iD when preparing the Common Forms. They will also need to link their ORCID iD in their eRA Commons Profile.
Why ORCID?
ORCID is designed to simplify an investigator’s life. It promotes the use of its unique digital identifier to connect researchers with their professional accomplishments over time, regardless of changes to their name, location, title, or institution. Think of an ORCID iD as a tool that provides a snapshot of an individual’s professional accomplishments—automatically linking researchers to their past and recent papers. What’s more, having an ORCID account simplifies the process of creating biosketches for grant applications and reduces the administrative burden on investigators of entering the same information in multiple places. It also allows agencies like NIH to better track career outcomes.
Not everyone has an ORCID, although that’s changing. In 2016, only 2 percent of investigators with an extramural research grant had linked their ORCID iDs to their eRA Commons Profiles, while in 2023, that number had risen to 51 percent. Today, more than 7,000 journals use ORCID iDs and, with user permission, can automatically populate ORCID accounts with their citations.
If you don’t already have an ORCID iD, we encourage you to Create your ORCID iD and link The ORCID iD to your eRA Commons Profile. Further, you can watch the video demonstration SciENcv: Integrating with ORCID. If needed, you can also contact the eRA Commons Service Desk.