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@article{204566,
        author = {Prof. P. R. Patil and Om Balgude and Aryan Patil and Neeraj Yamaji},
        title = {Blockchain-Based Certificate Authenticity Validation Using OCR and AI-Assisted Tampering Detection},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {13},
        number = {1},
        pages = {2492-2505},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=204566},
        abstract = {The rapid growth of digital education systems and online recruitment platforms has significantly increased the risk of forged and manipulated academic certificates. Traditional certificate verification methods are mostly manual, time-consuming, and dependent on centralized authorities, making them inefficient and vulnerable to tampering. As a result, educational institutions, employers, and verification agencies face major challenges in ensuring the authenticity and integrity of academic credentials. To address these issues, this research proposes a blockchain-based certificate authenticity validation system integrated with Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques for secure and automated document verification. The proposed system combines blockchain technology, OCR, smart contracts, and intelligent document analysis to detect forged or altered academic certificates in a reliable and transparent manner. Trusted certificate records are maintained using decentralized blockchain-based verification mechanisms, ensuring immutability and protection against unauthorized modifications. When a certificate is uploaded to the system, OCR technology is used to extract important information such as the student’s name, institution name, certificate ID, and issue date. The extracted information is then validated against trusted institutional records using blockchain-based verification and intelligent validation techniques. In addition, the system performs document integrity analysis to identify any signs of tampering or unauthorized modifications in certificate files. The proposed platform consists of multiple integrated components, including a user interface developed using React.js, a backend server built with Node.js and Express.js, a MongoDB database, and an AI-powered verification service implemented using FastAPI. The blockchain layer is implemented using Ethereum smart contracts to securely store certificate hashes and maintain immutable verification records. The system also incorporates role-based access control, activity logging, and real-time verification notifications to improve transparency, accountability, and security.
By storing document hashes on the blockchain, the system ensures that certificate records cannot be modified without authorization. The proposed solution aims to provide a decentralized, tamper-resistant, scalable, and cost-effective framework for certificate verification that can be used by educational institutions, recruiters, and organizations. Experimental analysis demonstrates that the integration of OCR with blockchain technology improves the reliability and efficiency of the verification process, reduces verification time, and enhances the accuracy of document authenticity validation when compared to traditional verification systems. Overall, the proposed blockchain-based certificate authenticity validation system offers a secure and transparent solution for issuing, storing, and verifying academic certificates. The integration of blockchain technology and OCR significantly reduces the possibility of certificate fraud and provides a trustworthy verification mechanism suitable for modern digital education and recruitment ecosystems.},
        keywords = {},
        month = {June},
        }