Digital CVs (SciENcv) and Digital Persistent Identifiers
⭐ Overview
SciENcv (Science Experts Network Curriculum Vitae) is a federal tool used to create and maintain biosketches and current & pending (other) support documents for research proposals. It is provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and integrates with ORCID, NSF, and NIH systems to streamline reporting.
SciENcv plays a central role in research security by ensuring that disclosures of appointments, affiliations, and research support are complete, consistent, and compliant with federal requirements.
📌Why SciENcv Matters for Research Security
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NSF and NIH require SciENcv-generated documents for many proposal submissions.
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Using SciENcv helps ensure accurate, complete, and compliant disclosure of:
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Appointments and affiliations
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Current and pending support
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Foreign and domestic collaborations
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Organizational relationships
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It supports federal research security priorities by standardizing how researchers report outside activities and support.
🛡️ Federal Requirements
NSF
- NSF requires SciENcv for both biosketches and current & pending (other support) documents.
- PDF uploads or manually created forms are not accepted.
NIH
- NIH requires ScENcv for biosketches.
- NIH strongly encourages the use of SciENcv for other support, and future requirements are expected to align with standardized disclosure practices.
USDA-NIFA
- NIFA requires researchers to use SciENcv to prepare both the Biosketch and the Current & Pending (Other) Support documents for most competitive grant programs.
🧩 What Researchers Must Disclose in SciENcv
Biosketch
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Professional preparation
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Appointments (domestic and foreign)
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Products (publications, software, datasets)
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Synergistic activities
Current & Pending (Other) Support
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All active and pending research projects
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All sources of support—federal, non-federal, foreign, internal
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In-kind contributions
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Visiting appointments or affiliations
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Foreign support or collaborations
🧰 How SciENcv Supports Research Security Best Practices
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Reduces risk of omitted foreign affiliations or undisclosed support
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Ensures consistent reporting across proposals
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Helps institutions meet federal research security standards
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Provides an audit-friendly record of disclosures
Questions? Contact ndsu.researchdev@ndsu.edu for assistance.
Some federal agencies are moving toward requiring investigators to register with a DPI service, such as ORCID, to address the challenge of distinguishing researchers and their research activities from those of others with similar names. ORCID allows researchers to easily and uniquely attach their identity to researcher objects such as datasets, equipment, articles, media stories, citations, experiments, patents, and notebooks.
See below for step-by-step instructions on creating and ORCID ID: