Explore UAB

Colleges & Schools

Office of Research

OSP

UAB's Implementation of the New NIH Biosketch & Other Support Forms
June 2021

UAB Research Community,
As you know, the NIH announced changes to its Biosketches and Other Support (OS) forms in NOT-OD-21-073 on March 12, 2021. Subsequently on April 28, 2021, NIH revised its effective date for the forms to January 25, 2022.

  • Biographical Sketch form - The NIH Biosketch page provides the new form and instructions. We strongly encourage faculty to begin using the new Biosketch form immediately, which will provide consistency across the institution, especially for large collaborative grants with investigators from multiple departments. The other advantage is that the section listing grants is greatly shortened, can be selective and is included in the personal narrative. This helps ensure information regarding funding amounts and dates is consistent with NIH databases and Other Support pages. That said, OSP will accept either NIH Biosketch form until January 25, 2022. As a reminder, faculty members are responsible for the accuracy of information in their Biosketch form. OSP is not currently verifying information in Biosketch forms, so it is important that faculty and departmental grant staff ensure the accuracy and completeness of these documents prior to submission to OSP.
  • Other Support form – We strongly encourage faculty to begin using the new Other Support form as soon as possible. The instructions for the new NIH form are available here. However, OSP will accept either the UAB Other Support form or the new NIH Other Support form until January 25, 2022. These are the only two versions of Other Support documents compliant with current NIH requirements. OSP will not submit progress reports or Just–in-Time documents that do not use either the UAB form or NIH form.

Please visit the Transparency in Research webpage for the latest Guidance document for both Biosketch and Other Support forms. You can also view the April 2021 Town Hall video and corresponding slides at the site. This webpage also has instructions on how to sign/certify the new NIH Other Support form via Adobe Sign. Our objective is to meet our sponsors' requirements consistently, provide complete transparency and ensure disclosure of all research activities, foreign and domestic, in reporting.