The newest iteration of the Proposal and Award Policies and Procedures Guide (PAPPG), set to launch January 2020, will feature new guidelines. Beginning with the advent of the new PAPPG, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will only accept biographical sketches that adhere to the new NIH-approved SciENcv format.

This novel formatting program will allow for better searchable information across all research activities and will increase efficiency by providing proposers with a compliant and transferable way to maintain their information for subsequent proposal submissions.

According to the current PAPPG, a biographical sketch is required for each individual identified as senior personnel on a proposal, and a separate biographical sketch PDF film, or other NSF-approved format, must be uploaded for each pertinent individual involved in the study.

Under the new requirements, all proposals to the NSF, including those submitted to Research.gov, Grants.gov, as well as FastLane, will adhere to the new SciENcv functionalities. Some of these include:

• SciENcv allows proposers to integrate their ORCiD digital identifier to enable pre-population for the Biographical Sketch. Additional information is available on the ORCiD website.
• SciENcv will produce NSF-compliant PDF versions of these documents. Proposers must save these documents and submit them as part of their proposals via FastLane, Research.gov or Grants.gov.

With a rapidly approaching anticipated effective date, the time to begin best practices for this policy now. Researchers preparing for this new PAPPG, as it related to the preparation and submission of the Biographical Sketch and Current and Pending Support sections of NSF proposals, are encouraged to become familiar with the new format by visiting the SciENcv website.