Free access or individual subscription
Register with an email from a licensed university to have free access to the Idea Puzzle software or with another email to subscribe it individually (19 euros per year). The access to the Idea Puzzle software is exclusively online, without installation on the computer, after allowing pop-up windows in your Internet browser.
Introduction to the software
The Idea Puzzle software is a decision-making tool that helps PhD candidates improve the coherence of a research proposal, article, or thesis in the light of Philosophy of Science (Morais, 2025). It also helps review the strengths and weaknesses of a research project in any field of knowledge (Parente & Ferro, 2016). To date, it has helped design more than 7000 research projects worldwide.
The Idea Puzzle software poses 21 questions, helps answering them, and allows the self-evaluation of each answer in terms of decision-making progress. The help function of the Idea Puzzle software includes instructions, tips, definitions, introductions, bibliography, and examples of research designs that won the Idea Puzzle Prize. The output of the Idea Puzzle software is a research design with 21 answers, an overall score, and a coloured jigsaw puzzle of progress that can be shared in PDF or in Word.
In 2023, the Idea Puzzle software was a finalist of the Sage 15K GBP Concept Grant from a total of 89 research software tools. The jury considered the theoretical framework of 21 decisions unique and praised the way the Idea Puzzle software helps PhD candidates design their research. In the terminology of the European Competence Framework for Researchers, the Idea Puzzle software develops cognitive abilities.