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AI research softwareAI Academic Writing Platform
Researchers draft a paper in one tool, look up sources in another and rework the manuscript by hand for every journal they submit to. ImproveIT’s team was engaged to build version 1.0 of the product: an AI writing platform that brings all three into one browser workspace, with field-aware text suggestions, citation search, reference checks, journal formatting and real-time co-authoring.
Business challenge
The client set out to build a writing workspace for students and researchers, working alone or in groups, and for the organisations that employ them.
Academic writing is spread across too many tools. Drafts live in a word processor and references in a separate manager, and every journal has its own rules for length, abstract and reference format, which authors apply by hand before each submission. General AI writing tools help with wording, but they don’t know a field’s terminology and can’t be trusted with citations. The product had to bring these steps into a single editor and make sure every citation and every AI answer points to a real publication.
Our scope included
- Building the next version of the product: web app, backend, AI features and infrastructure
- A block-based editor with Word import and export to DOCX, LaTeX and PDF
- Real-time collaboration for co-authors, with groups, roles and document chat
- AI autocompletion, an assistant that answers with sources, and formula images turned into LaTeX
- Citation search, reference checks and journal-specific formatting
- Subscriptions and payments for individual plans and organisation seats
Product overview
Authors write in a block-based editor and can start from an existing Word draft. As they type, the platform suggests how the sentence could continue, in the terminology of their field.
To cite a source, the author selects a claim, and the platform finds publications on it and inserts the citation in the chosen style. Every reference in the draft, including those in an imported Word file, is checked against a scholarly registry, and any it cannot match is flagged.
Before submission, the author picks a target journal and the platform proposes the changes its rules require, from word and abstract limits to the reference format. The author reviews each one before anything is applied.
Research groups write in the same document in real time, with read, write and admin roles, and discuss the draft in chat, where an AI assistant answers questions with sources. Organisations buy seats and manage their members from an admin portal.
Values delivered by our team
Writing and AI
- Text suggestions in the terminology of the author’s field
- An AI assistant that answers questions with sources
- Formula images converted into editable LaTeX
- Block-based editor with Word import
Sources and citations
- Citation search for any claim in the draft
- Every reference checked against a scholarly registry
- A personal library for saved references
- Citations inserted in the style the author picks
- Patent search alongside the literature
Journal submission
- Formatting rules for the chosen target journal
- Every proposed change reviewed by the author before it is applied
- Manuscripts exported to DOCX, LaTeX or PDF
Teams and billing
- Real-time co-authoring in shared documents
- Groups with read, write and admin roles, and document chat
- An admin portal for organisation seats
- Billing for individual plans and organisation seats
Other engagements
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