DocuSign for Other Support Documents

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

  • How to request and activate a Princeton DocuSign account and create a signature
  • How to send the NIH Other Support Document to a Researcher for electronic signature via Docusign and how to flatten the signed file to permit upload

Frequently Asked Questions