eRA Commons ID Requirement Extends to All Senior/Key Personnel in January 2022

If you are planning an application due on or after January 25, 2022, take note that all senior/key personnel must have an eRA Commons ID, which is already a submission requirement for program directors/principal investigators and primary mentors listed on individual mentored career development applications. While all other senior/key personnel have been encouraged to obtain eRA Commons IDs, it has not yet been required.

This extended requirement will facilitate data collection for individuals contributing to federally funded research, help NIH identify peer review conflicts of interest, and disambiguate application data.

Implementation

All applicants must enter an eRA Commons ID in the “Credential, e.g., agency login” field for all Senior/Key Personnel (as defined in NIH Grants Policy Statement section 1.2) listed on the R&R Senior/Key Person Profile (Expanded) Form. eRA Commons will then implement a system validation to check for a valid eRA Commons ID.

To facilitate awareness of this policy change, applicants will now encounter an eRA system validation if the “Credential, e.g., agency login” field is blank or does not contain a valid eRA Commons ID. Beginning in January 2022, investigators must correct this error before their application can be submitted.

Applicants holding scientific roles (program directors, principal investigators, scientists, postdocs, undergraduate/graduate students, project personnel) should have only one eRA Commons ID for the entirety of their research career. Applicants should always check for existing eRA Commons accounts before creating a new one.

If a person already has an eRA Commons scientific account and is changing institutions, a signing official or an account administrator role at the new institution can affiliate that account with the new institution. Contact the eRA Service Desk if you have more than one account. 

Resources

For more information, refer to the links listed below, and read the Guide notice Expanding Requirement for eRA Commons IDs to All Senior/Key Personnel.

• Understanding eRA Commons Accounts
• eRA Register | Accounts
• How To Get a User ID for eRA Commons (video)

Inquiries

Direct all eRA technical inquiries to the eRA Service Desk and NIH systems policy inquiries to NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA) Systems Policy Branch.