ResearchHub

All your research. One intelligent workspace.

Inspiration

Research is at the core of progress, but the current workflow is fragmented and inefficient. Students and researchers juggle word processors, citation managers, notepads, and cloud folders, yet still struggle with messy drafts, misplaced sources, and repetitive errors. We wanted to solve this by creating a single hub where research, writing, and AI support converge seamlessly.

What it does

ResearchHub is an AI-powered, all-in-one research platform that turns fragmented workflows into a seamless, organized experience. It allows users to:

Centralize Research Projects: Keep all papers, notes, drafts, and references organized in one workspace.
Generate Insights with AI: Automatically create research questions, identify gaps, and generate roadmaps based on project context.
Enhance Writing Quality: Receive real-time, context-aware feedback on clarity, tone, style, and originality.
Section-Level Plagiarism Checking: Each section of a project is automatically analyzed to ensure originality and detect potential overlap or duplication.
Organize and Track Progress: Maintain version history, track questions, gaps, and roadmaps, and monitor overall project evolution.
Collaborate Effectively: Share projects, work with mentors or teammates, and manage roles and permissions.
Analyze and Connect Literature: Explore relationships between sources, uncover key themes, and receive evidence-based recommendations.
Flexible and Scalable: Adapt workflows to different disciplines, research types, or paper sections, making it suitable for students, academics, and professionals.

In essence, ResearchHub provides a unified, intelligent environment for research and writing, keeping your projects organized, your writing original, and your insights actionable.

How we built it

We built ResearchHub to be a project-centric, AI-augmented research platform that’s fast, responsive, and easy to use.

Frontend & UI

Built with Next.js, React, and TypeScript for modularity and performance.
UI components are powered by shadcn/ui and lucide-react icons, providing a clean and intuitive interface.
Responsive design ensures usability across devices, with panels stacking neatly on smaller screens.

State & Data Management

LocalStorage stores projects, AI conversations, and selections, enabling fast prototyping and persistent session data.
Custom events synchronize state between panels without relying on heavy global state, keeping the interface smooth and reactive.

AI Integration

Next.js API routes proxy requests to Gemini v1beta (gemini-2.0-flash) using secure API keys.
Endpoints include: /api/ai-chat for the AI assistant, and separate routes for generating research questions, gaps, and roadmaps.
Generation workflow automatically uses project context (title, field, objectives, description, tags) without requiring user input, providing staged status updates like Reading → Analyzing → Generating.

Challenges we ran into

Managing and organizing a large amount of research quickly
Integrating multiple tools and sources under tight time constraints
Coordinating team collaboration effectively in a fast-paced environment
Optimizing performance for searches and cross-references while keeping it simple
Staying focused and building a working prototype in just 24 hours

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Built a fully functional prototype in just 24 hours
Successfully integrated multiple research tools into a single workflow
Created a user-friendly interface for managing and cross-referencing papers
Collaborated seamlessly as a team under extreme time pressure
Delivered a solution that addresses a real, common pain point for researchers

What we learned

How to prioritize features and make fast design decisions under tight deadlines
The importance of clear communication and division of tasks in a small team
Techniques for quickly integrating multiple tools and data sources
How to balance speed and functionality when building a prototype
That even in 24 hours, you can create something meaningful and usable

What's next for ResearchHub

Transform the prototype into a seamless research workspace for academics and students alike
Supercharge paper discovery with intelligent search and cross-referencing capabilities
Integrate with top research databases and citation tools for effortless workflow
Enable collaborative features to let teams innovate and share insights in real time
Scale up the platform to handle more users and diverse research needs
Deliver a polished, user-ready experience that makes managing research effortless
Lay the groundwork for future enhancements that push the boundaries of research productivity