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Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv): Home

A guide to setting up, creating, and maintaining biographical sketches for grants.

What is SciENcv?

The Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae (SciENcv) is an electronic system to help researchers assemble the professional information that they need for federally funded research. This system is used by multiple federal agencies (like the NIH and NSF) to reduce the redundancy of entering the same biographical information for each grant application or annual report. 

  • Many granting agencies require a specifically-formatted biographical sketch (biosketch) from senior/key personnel and other notable contributors on a grant. These biosketches are used to ensure that individuals are qualified to conduct the proposed research.
  • The SciENcv system helps ensure that your biosketch is properly formatted for the application or form; some agencies may withdraw your application from consideration if your biosketch does not follow the appropriate format.

Important Notes: 

  • The NIH originally planned to require that all Biosketches & Current and Pending Support forms submitted on or after May 25, 2025 must be created using SciENcv. The anticipated implementation of this policy is scheduled for November 2025, with previews of the forms currently available. Please review the "2025: NIH Common Form Previews" tab of this guide for more information. 
  • As of October 23, 2023, all biographical sketches for NSF grants need to be generated through the SciENcv application. 

On this page:

Accessing SciENcv

Step 1. Navigate to: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sciencv/. You can log in using a variety of account options such as eRA Commons and an existing NSF or NIH account.  

a screenshot of the SciENcv login page with several options for logging in

Step 2a. The SciENcv system can also accessed through the MyNCBI portal. You can log in using a variety of accounts, including your eRA commons account, ORCiD, NIH account, or NSF account. 

a screenshot of the different account types to log in to the SciENcv platform

 

Step 2b. Once you are logged in, you can always access the system by navigating to your Dashboard and clicking a biosketch or the "Manage SciENcv>>" in the lower right corner of the SciENcv box on the Dashboard. 

a screenshot of the My NCBI dashboard with an arrow pointing at the SciENcv tile. A box also highlights the dashboard link under the NCBI account information

Linking Your ORCID iD to Your Account

Step 1. 

Important Note: Delegates will not be able to link the ORCID ID information to a PI's account. It must be done directly under the PI's account. 

a. Log in to your SciENcv account. Delegates: be sure to double-check to make sure you are in the researcher's SciENcv profile and not your own. 

b. Click the "Edit" button at the top of the page next to the "My Profile" text.

screenshot of the homepage for SciENcv with an arrow pointing at the "edit button" 

Step 2. Click the linked text that says "Select here to link your ORCID iD". 

a screenshot of the "Edit My Profile" pop up in SciENcv with a blue box and arrow highlighting the "Select here to link your ORCID iD" link

 

Step 3. You will be redirected to the ORCID iD website. Follow the prompts to link your NCBI account to your ORCID iD. You will then be able to use the data from ORCID iD on your biosketches. 

  • If, during this process, you get an error notification that your ORCID iD is already linked to an NCBI account, you will need to reach out to the NCBI Help Desk to get assistance with linking your ORCID. 

How do I know if an ORCID is linked to the SciENcv Account?

You can check if an ORCID is linked by going to the main page of the SciENcv profile and clicking the "Edit profile" button. A link to the ORCID profile will appear next to the ORCID ID option like in the screenshot below. If you do not see this link, go to the box above this one for instructions on linking the ORCID.

a screenshot of the Edit My Profile box in SciENcv with an arrow pointing to a link to an orcid profile

How do I link my eRA Commons account with SciENcv?

Step 1a. Go to this link for My NCBI and log in to your existing NCBI account. 

Step 1b. Once you are logged in, click your login name in the top right corner of the window and select "Account Settings". 

a screenshot of the NCBI homepage with the account information drop down in the top right of the screen open with a box highlighting the "account settings" link

Step 2. Scroll to the heading that says "Linked Accounts" and select the "Add Account" link. 

a screenshot from the NCBI account settings page of the linked account section with a blue arrow pointing to the "Add account" button

Step 3a. Search for eRA Commons in the account lookup search bar and click the eRA Commons option. 

a screenshot of the NCBI link a new 3rd party account pop up with eRA commons searched

Step 3b. You will then be directed to log in to your eRA Commons account. 

Step 4. You will know that an account is linked in two ways:

a. In account settings, eRA Commons will now be listed as one of the linked accounts. 

a screenshot of the linked account section of the NCBI settings page with an eRA commons account listed

b. In SciENcv, the numeric eRA Commons ID will be listed at the top of the profile page and at the top of the NIH biosketches. 

a screenshot of an eRA commons profile with an era commons id listed