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ResearchChain: Institutional Research Credential & Audit Trail Service

A managed authentication + research output registry service that institutions subscribe to. Researchers log in once via their institution's identity provider, get a cryptographically-signed credential badge, and every research tool they use (Elicit, Perplexity, Claude, etc.) logs their session and outputs to an immutable institutional ledger. Institutions can audit who published what, when, using which tools, and flag suspicious patterns (e.g., 50 papers in 2 weeks) before publication.

SERVICE

33 weeks • 70% confidence

Value Proposition

Eliminates the reputational disaster of discovering post-publication that a researcher churned out AI-assisted junk studies under your institution's name. Gives institutions real-time visibility into research velocity and tool usage. Researchers get one login, institutions get liability protection and audit-trail proof they did due diligence.

Target Audience

Medical schools, research universities, and hospital systems with 50+ active researchers; department heads and compliance officers who sign off on publications

Key Features

  • SAML/OAuth bridge that works with existing institutional identity systems (Active Directory, Okta, Shibboleth)
  • Browser extension that auto-logs research tool sessions and captures metadata (tool used, time spent, output quality signals)
  • Institutional dashboard showing researcher activity heatmaps, publication velocity alerts, and flagged outputs for manual review
  • And more, with full implementation detail...

Tech Stack

SAML/OAuth libraries (python-saml, node-saml, Okta SDK) Browser extension framework (WebExtensions API for Chrome/Firefox) Backend: Node.js or Python (FastAPI) with PostgreSQL or Kafka for event logging Cryptography: libsodium or NaCl for credential signing
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Original Problem

Researchers and students struggle to maintain credibility while managing authentication and access control across multiple research tools

Researchers, medical students, and academic institutions face a critical gap between needing secure, self-managed authentication systems and the proliferation of tools that enable rapid but potentially misleading research output. Current solutions force them to choose between security/control (managed OAuth) and ease of use, while lacking integrated systems that help validate research quality before publication. This creates reputational and institutional risk when poor-quality studies are published under their names.

Score: 23.3% • 2 demand signals