Electronic Signature Required for the NIH Other Support Document
As of January 25, 2022, NIH requires the Other Support (OS) document to be electronically signed by the researcher and flattened (printed to PDF), before upload to NIH K applications, JIT, and the RPPR.
- Researchers must sign their OS document via DocuSign, Princeton University’s only licensed and approved platform for electronic signature. The University has not reviewed nor licensed other electronic signature products such as Adobe Sign.
- Researchers must request and activate a Princeton DocuSign account to electronically sign the OS, if they don’t already have a Princeton DocuSign account.
- If the research administrator prepares the OS document for the researcher, the administrator must request and activate Princeton DocuSign in order to send the OS to the researcher via DocuSign, if they don’t already have a Princeton DocuSign account.
- The OS must be final and complete before being electronically signed. DocuSign is not an editing program; it’s a signature program. Editing the file after signature invalidates the signature.
- The DocuSigned file must be flattened (by printing the signed file to PDF) before upload to the NIH K applications, JIT, and the RPPR.
For Researchers
- How to request and activate a Princeton DocuSign account and create a signature
- How to DocuSign and flatten the NIH Other Support document prepared by a Research Administrator
- How to upload, DocuSign and flatten the NIH Other Support file prepared by a Researcher
For Research Administrators
Frequently Asked Questions
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How can you tell if a file has been flattened?
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File size can be one way to tell. When I sent my test file for signature, it was 39KB. When it was DocuSigned, it was 165KB. After flattening, it was 54KB. If your researcher created their own Other Support (OS) file and emails their DocuSigned OS file to you outside of the DocuSign System, so you don’t know the original file size, “print to PDF” to be sure it’s flattened.
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Was the session recorded? Can I have the slides from the presentation?
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The session was not recorded, but there are quick guides and videos targeted to researchers and research administrators on this web page. The videos contain a variation on the slides.
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Has the university used DocuSign for other purposes?
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According to Keith Martin, Associate Director of Identity and Access Management in OIT: “DocuSign is already in use for cases where a verifiable signature is required. Things like vendor contracts, non-disclosure agreements, rental arrangements, etc. For example, procurement already uses it to manage signatures in their contract management system.”
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Should DocuSign be used for signing everything at the university?
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According to Keith Martin, Associate Director of Identity and Access Management in OIT: “There is a per-envelope cost associated with DocuSign. It’s not really a good choice for something like a daily task related item, annual performance review, or similar *unless* for some reason you need to handle the case where the signer could dispute the signature at some future date.”
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Does NIH accept an insert of an image of a signature, rather than DocuSign?
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No, as per this NIH FAQ, "Other Support submissions must be submitted as a flattened PDF after all signatures are obtained…Recipients and applicants may use the electronic signature software of their choice, and in alignment with their institutional practices.” DocuSign is Princeton’s institutionally endorsed electronic signature software, and the signatures are verifiable. Inserting an image of a signature into a document is not verifiable.
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The DocuSign envelope ID is in the top margin of every page of the OS file, contradictory to NIH’s half-inch margin rule. Will this cause problems for submission?
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For files the research administrator sends to the researcher through DocuSIgn, DocuSign automatically adds the Envelope ID in the half-inch header. On 2/1, an RPPR containing an OS file with the DocuSign Envelope ID in the half-inch margin was accepted by the NIH. NIH added their own stamp in the half-inch header, so the DocuSign Envelope ID and the NIH stamp overlap with each other. Although we contacted NIH on 2/11 to ask them if there would be any problems with the Envelope ID for the K submissions, they did not respond until 2/17 (after the K deadline) and confirmed this would not cause an issue for submission. All Ks submitted on 2/14 with the Envelope ID in the OS margin were accepted.
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I signed up for a free account but don’t have the yellow “start” button.
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Free DocuSign accounts only let you sign files sent to you; they don’t let you send files to others for signature. Please complete this SNAP form to request a DocuSign account. After activating the DocuSign account using the link in the email DocuSign sends, you will have the yellow “start” button. See the quick guides or videos on this webpage for more information.