The NIH will begin requiring a new biosketch format as of May 25, 2015. There are some fairly significant changes that will require extra prep time, so be sure to review the samples early and get started on revising yours today! If you’d like help, please contact us.

So what has changed?

• Page limit increased to 5 pages.


• Completion Date of degrees goes from format MM/YY to MM/YYYY.


• The Personal Statement now lists relevant factors to include: aspects of your training; your previous experimental work on this specific topic or related topics; your technical expertise; your collaborators or scientific environment; and your past performance in this or related fields.


• The Personal Statement section now allows you to list up to 4 peer-reviewed publications that specifically highlight your experience and qualifications for the grant proposal.


• The Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications and Patent Citations section has been eliminated.


• A new section has been added: Contribution to Science:

Briefly describe up to five of your most significant contributions to science. For each contribution, indicate the historical background that frames the scientific problem; the central finding(s); the influence of the finding(s) on the progress of science or the application of those finding(s) to health or technology; and your specific role in the described work. For each of these contributions, reference up to four peer-reviewed publications or other non-publication research products (can include audio or video products; patents; data and research materials; databases; educational aids or curricula; instruments or equipment; models; protocols; and software or netware) that are relevant to the described contribution. The description of each contribution should be no longer than one half page including figures and citations. Also provide a URL to a full list of your published work as found in a publicly available digital database such as SciENcv or My Bibliography, which are maintained by the US National Library of Medicine.

This includes a requirement to provide a URL to a full list of your published work, either in SciENcv or My Bibliography. If you have not yet built your published works database, now is the time to start. Ask us how.

This new approach to listing publications for your biosketch will expand upon the NIH’s commitment to ensuring grantees are meeting the terms and conditions of their federal grant awards. Don’t forget to include the PMCID numbers in your listed publications and have your My Bibliography current and compliant!