Enabling better research outcomes at NIT Raipur with LeapSpace

Researcher's evolving needs

Researchers today are navigating an increasingly complex landscape – balancing growing volumes of information, limited time, and rising pressure to publish, all while maintaining the highest standards of research integrity.

Across the global research community, these pressures are intensifying, with many researchers reporting they lack sufficient time to conduct high-quality work.

India’s growing need for research-grade AI

At the same time, AI adoption is accelerating — particularly in Asia Pacific, where researchers report higher usage and more positive attitudes toward AI than in North America and Europe¹. In India specifically, around 40% of researchers are already using AI tools in their work.²

But alongside this rapid adoption, expectations are evolving. Researchers and institutions are not only looking for speed and efficiency, but also for approaches that support trust, transparency, and responsible use.

India now ranks as the world’s third-largest producer of scholarly research by overall output. However, measures of research quality — such as citation impact and publication in top-tier journals — remain below those of leading research nations. This highlights a growing need to strengthen both the quality and integrity of research as the ecosystem continues to expand.

So, how can institutions adopt AI to support researchers in working more efficiently, while maintaining the rigor, transparency, and standards that high-quality research demands?

For researchers at the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Raipuropens in new tab/window, this challenge is front of mind.

As Dr. Sunil Kumar Satpathy, Head of NIT Raipur’s Central Library, explains:

“With the increasing use of AI across all areas of life, including research, we were looking for an academically aligned AI tool that could support our researchers while protecting integrity, transparency and confidentiality.”

Enabling better research outcomes with LeapSpace

This requirement for a research-grade AI solution was a key factor in NIT Raipur’s decision to move forward with LeapSpace™ — making them one of the first institutions in the Chhattisgarh region to adopt the solution.

LeapSpace is Elsevier’s AI-assisted research workspace, designed to support researchers across the research workflow. Built on trusted, peer-reviewed scholarly content and Elsevier’s Responsible AI principles, it combines transparency, explainability and human oversight in a single secure environment.

This sets LeapSpace apart through its focus on trusted scholarly content, transparency and human oversight in research workflows.

As Dr. Satpathy explains:

“LeapSpace emerged as a valuable solution to help researchers overcome intense time pressure, information overload, and missed insights. It can boost efficiency in literature reviews, support mission-oriented research and help identify research gaps and trends.

Our researchers appreciate that LeapSpace provides comprehensive, peer-reviewed content with responsible AI in one place, and its additional features, like Trust Cards.”

Shaping the solution

From Elsevier’s perspective, the engagement was shaped by a clear dialogue with the customer, grounded in understanding their research workflows and priorities.

Nitin Ghoshal, Customer Success Manager, A&G, reflects: "What stood out in our conversations with NIT Raipur was their focus on adopting responsible AI. They weren't just looking for AI — they were looking for something that could genuinely support their researchers’ day-to-day work, without compromising quality or integrity.

During the workshop and onboarding sessions, there was a strong emphasis on how LeapSpace could help researchers navigate complex topics more efficiently, while still grounding their work in trusted, peer-reviewed evidence.”

For NIT Raipur, the impact is already clear. Researchers can move faster through complex literature, identify trends and gaps more effectively, and explore research questions with greater confidence — without compromising on rigor.

References

1. Elsevier. The Researcher of the Future: Accompanying Databook (2025), pp. 8, 43, 64. 2. Elsevier. The Researcher of the Future: Accompanying Databook (2025), p. 9.