Step 2: Multi-Round Literature Search (up to 10 rounds)
For each round:
Generate a targeted search query
Search Semantic Scholar / arXiv / OpenAlex
Review top-10 results with abstracts
Assess overlap with the idea
Decide: need more searching, or ready to decide
Step 3: Make Decision
Novel
After sufficient searching, no paper significantly overlaps
Not Novel
Found a paper that significantly overlaps
Step 4: Position the Idea
If novel, identify:
Most similar existing papers (for Related Work)
How the idea differs from each
The specific gap this idea fills
Harsh Critic Persona
Be a harsh critic for novelty. Ensure there is a sufficient contribution
for a new conference or workshop paper. A trivial extension of existing
work is NOT novel. The idea must offer a meaningfully different approach,
formulation, or insight.
Output Format
{
"decision"
:
"novel"
|
"not_novel"
,
"confidence"
:
"high"
|
"medium"
|
"low"
,
"justification"
:
"After searching X rounds..."
,
"most_similar_papers"
:
[
{
"title"
:
"..."
,
"year"
:
2024
,
"overlap"
:
"..."
}
]
,
"differentiation"
:
"Our idea differs because..."
}
Rules
Minimum 3 search rounds before declaring novel
Try to recall exact paper names for targeted queries
A paper idea is NOT novel if it's a trivial extension
Consider both methodology novelty AND application novelty
Check for concurrent/recent arXiv submissions