Check if your research topic has already been studied. We score your proposed title against 250M+ papers and 6L+ Indian theses— and tell you if it's safe to proceed.
Every year, thousands of PhD and Masters students across India discover — too late — that their research topic has already been studied by someone else. A 3-minute overlap check can save you 3 years of wasted effort and the heartbreak of a rejected thesis.
Topic overlap doesn't just mean someone has the exact same title. It means significant similarity in subject matter, methodology, geographic scope, population studied, or research questions. Even partial overlap can lead to questions from your examination committee about the originality of your contribution.
Our topic overlap checker scores your proposed research against 250M+ global papers and 6L+ Indian theses from Shodhganga. It breaks down similarity across five dimensions and shows you the closest existing works — so you know exactly how to position your research as distinct and original.
The more specific you are, the better the analysis. Include your geographic scope, methodology, and population if possible.
Our system searches across Indian theses (Shodhganga) and global papers simultaneously, comparing your topic across multiple dimensions.
See a clear score (0-100%), dimension-wise breakdown, closest existing works, and a verdict: safe to proceed, proceed with caution, or consider pivoting.
Your topic is highly original. No significant overlap found with existing research.
Some overlap exists. Consider narrowing your scope or differentiating your methodology.
High overlap detected. Your topic may lack sufficient originality. Pivot or significantly narrow your focus.
Yes. You can check your topic without creating an account. Anonymous users get 1 check per month. Sign up free for 3 checks/month, or upgrade to Pro (₹199/month) for unlimited checks.
The overlap score (0-100%) represents how much your proposed research overlaps with existing work in our corpus of 250M+ papers and 6L+ Indian theses. Lower is better — below 25% means strong originality.
Yes. We index 6L+ Indian theses from Shodhganga — the only tool that does this. Your overlap is checked against both Indian and global research simultaneously.
No. Your searches are private. We don't share individual results with anyone. You can choose to share your results with your supervisor if you want.
Don't panic. A high score means you need to differentiate — not abandon your topic entirely. Look at the dimension-wise breakdown to see WHERE the overlap is (methodology? geography? population?) and adjust accordingly.
A plagiarism checker compares your written text against existing text for copying. Our overlap checker compares your TOPIC/IDEA against existing research to assess originality of your research direction — even before you've written anything.
Bodhi is a complete research intelligence platform — find gaps, search 250M+ papers, build proposals, and write with AI-powered citations.