Beginning on May 25, 2025, NIH will require grant applicants and recipients to use Common Forms for Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending (Other) Support, rather than the NIH-specific format pages currently in use.
This change serves a broader goal of aligning disclosure requirements across federal research agencies. The National Science Foundation already uses the Common Form for Biographical Sketch and Common Form for Current and Pending (Other) Support Information. You may notice that those forms do not require certain elements that NIH currently does—specifically the Personal Statement, Contributions to Science, and Honors fields—so NIH will also create a new Biographical Sketch Supplement to collect those details.
You’ll recall that NIH is transitioning from FORMS-H to FORMS-I beginning with applications due on or after January 25, 2025, so keep in mind that this change is set for implementation 4 months later. Read about the FORMS-I transition in our April 17, 2024 article FORMS-I Transition: Setting Up Dominoes to Topple on January 25, 2025.
In the meantime, the best way to prepare for the new Common Forms is to ensure that your Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) profile and Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID ID) exist and are current. NIH uses those eRA tools to reduce administrative burden around application and progress report form completion.
Refer to the July 31, 2024 Guide notice for additional details.