Research Methods, Management, & Funding Guide

SciENcv is located inside MyNCBI, and it requires a third-party login -- that is, you cannot create a unique username and password to access SciENcv, but must use an existing account from these options (or create a new account in one of these tools):

• eRA Commons *
• Google
• ORCID *
• Login.gov
• Microsoft
• NIH
• NCBI *
• Sam Houston State University (click "more login options" and find SHSU in the alphabetical list)

* these are good choices if you already have significant data about your work entered in these systems

As needed, follow the prompts to create a new NCBI account or link an existing NCBI account to your chosen method of login.

Depending on the third-party system you used to login, you may need to be able to access a bibliography existing in that tool. For example, if your publications are already listed in ORCID and you login to SciENcv using ORCID, then you will be able to access those publications.

In other cases, you may need to create a bibliography in the MyNCBI Dashboard. The instructions below will walk through creating a new bibliography in MyNCBI.

If you logged into SciENcv, you can access the MyNCBI Dashboard using either the breadcrumbs at the top left, or by clicking on your username at the top left and choose "Dashboard" from the drop-down menu.

On the MyNCBI Dashboard, locate the My Bibliography box and click "Manage My Bibliography."

Click the drop-down menu to "Add Citations." You can choose from three options:

• From PubMed
• From a file
• Manually

If your work is listed in PubMed, you can search for an author name, title, or keywords, then select all of your works to import into MyNCBI.

If you have a bibliography already compiled in another program (including a citation management program like EndNote, Mendeley, Zotero, or similar), you may want to export your citations from that program in an RIS file format. You can then upload the entire list to MyNCBI.

If you do not currently have your works listed in any other location to import, you can enter them manually.

NOTE: The Scholarly Communications Librarian can assist you upon request in compiling many of your works into a citation management program and generating an RIS file for import to SciENcv.

Next we will look at creating a new biosketch. If you're on the MyNCBI Dashboard, just locate the SciENcv box and click "Manage SciENcv."

Tip: In SciENcv, if your profile box at the top does not contain your personal details, click "edit" and enter the requested information.

Click "Create New Document" get started with a new biosketch.

1. Enter a name for your biosketch. Because you can use SciENcv to create biosketches for numerous projects and numerous agencies, be sure that you assign a name which will be meaningful to you later in distinguishing different versions of your biosketch. We recommend including a brief but specific reference to the project at hand, along with the month and year of file creation, for instance: 

   BeetleToxinProposalForNSF_Nov2022

2. Choose the biosketch format appropriate for your funder.
3. You can just start with a blank biosketch template. Alternatively:
   • If you have previously created a biosketch in the same format (e.g., you're creating a new NIH biosketch and you have an older NIH biosketch saved), you can start with a copy of that sketch and then just make changes as needed.
   • If you have data stored in other systems, such as eRA Commons, NSF, or ORCID, you can leverage that existing data to create a pre-filled sketch and then just make changes as needed.
4. Finally, choose whether your sketch should be Private or Public. You will generally want to start in Private while you are still drafting and revising the sketch. However, you could later make the sketch Public if you want to share it with someone for review (e.g., a collaborating researcher or the grant support staff in SHSU's Office of Research and Sponsored Programs). You can change your sketch from Private to Public and back again at any time.

Imported Data vs. Manual Entry

Many fields in the biosketch template can be pulled from another connected system, such as eRA Commons or ORCID, if you create a sketch from an external file or an existing biosketch in SciENcv.

However, all sections of the biosketch template can also be filled in manually, if you prefer this route or if you have no connected data to leverage.

Be aware that some data imported from other systems, or data re-used from a SciENcv biosketch that used a different agency template, may not map exactly right onto a new biosketch. For example: the ORCID Bio field will import into the NIH Personal Statement field, even though that bio likely doesn't represent exactly what you want to say in your personal statement. Therefore, if you leverage data importing, review all of the pre-filled fields carefully and make edits as necessary.

Guidance on Field Contents

For each field of the biosketch, you will see a brief description of what the field should contain, as well as a link to the official guidance. TIP: Right-click on the guidance link and open it in a new tab so it does not open in place of your biosketch.

An example is illustrated below: The Appointments section provides a brief explanation, but the guidance provides more detail about how to account for things like unpaid volunteer experience.

Selecting Citations

In several sections of the biosketch, you have the opportunity to select citations that relevantly support that field's contents. You are generally limited to five citations.

Click "Select Citations" to expand a window where you can choose your citations. NOTE: You will need citations already available in your MyNCBI bibliography or a connected ORCID account.

Use the tabs to switch between MyNCBI and ORCID citations. Check the boxes beside each citation that you want to include in this section of the biosketch. When you are done selecting citations, click the blue "Save Citations" option to save your work and collapse the citation selection window.

When you are done completing the fields in you biosketch, you can output it to the required format using the Download options, which are displayed at the top right and bottom right of the biosketch data entry screen. NOTE: Available file formats may differ between funding agency templates, but PDF should always be an option.

The resulting document will be formatted according to agency specifications. Be careful making any changes to the formatted document unless you are sure it is permitted by agency guidelines. In most cases, any needed data changes should be made inside the SciENcv system and then downloaded in a new file.

From the SciENcv dashboard, you can simply click on the title of a saved biosketch to access it for editing.

To delete a biosketch, click the blue "Edit" option above your list of biosketches. This will display new options beside each biosketch, including a "Delete" option.

After you are done deleting any obsolete biosketches, click the blue "Done" option to return to normal editing mode.

You can share a biosketch at any time by changing its status to Public.

Click on an existing biosketch to open it. Locate the "Sharing" status in the blue box at the top, and click "Change."

This will toggle the status from Private to Public. A URL will appear; copy and share this link to allow others to view the biosketch.

At any time, return to the biosketch and click "Stop Sharing" to return the biosketch to a Private status.