diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 0bf1469f4..019ac6842 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@
 
 ### Bugfixes
 
+- [\#915](https://github.com/arkworks-rs/algebra/pull/915) (`ark-poly`) Added `is_valid_coefficients_vec` to `SparsePolynomial` to remove duplicates and zero coefficients before polynomial creation.
+
 ## v0.5.0
 
 - [\#772](https://github.com/arkworks-rs/algebra/pull/772) (`ark-ff`) Implementation of `mul` method for `BigInteger`.
diff --git a/poly/src/polynomial/univariate/sparse.rs b/poly/src/polynomial/univariate/sparse.rs
index 8d683d210..25459f861 100644
--- a/poly/src/polynomial/univariate/sparse.rs
+++ b/poly/src/polynomial/univariate/sparse.rs
@@ -229,7 +229,34 @@ impl<F: Field> Zero for SparsePolynomial<F> {
     }
 }
 
+#[derive(Debug)]
+pub enum CoeffVecError {
+    ZeroCoefficient,
+    DuplicateDegree,
+}
+
 impl<F: Field> SparsePolynomial<F> {
+    // Function to validate that the input coefficient vector is simplified
+    pub fn is_valid_coefficients_vec(coeffs: &mut [(usize, F)]) -> Result<(), CoeffVecError> {
+        coeffs.sort_by(|a, b| a.0.cmp(&b.0));
+
+        let mut last_degree = None;
+        for &mut (degree, ref mut coeff) in coeffs {
+            if coeff.is_zero() {
+                // zero term has no effect
+                return Err(CoeffVecError::ZeroCoefficient);
+            }
+            if let Some(last) = last_degree {
+                if last == degree {
+                    // like terms should be combined
+                    return Err(CoeffVecError::DuplicateDegree);
+                }
+            }
+            last_degree = Some(degree);
+        }
+        Ok(())
+    }
+
     /// Constructs a new polynomial from a list of coefficients.
     pub fn from_coefficients_slice(coeffs: &[(usize, F)]) -> Self {
         Self::from_coefficients_vec(coeffs.to_vec())
@@ -324,7 +351,7 @@ impl<F: Field> From<DensePolynomial<F>> for SparsePolynomial<F> {
 mod tests {
     use crate::{
         polynomial::Polynomial,
-        univariate::{DensePolynomial, SparsePolynomial},
+        univariate::{sparse::CoeffVecError, DensePolynomial, SparsePolynomial},
         EvaluationDomain, GeneralEvaluationDomain,
     };
     use ark_ff::{UniformRand, Zero};
@@ -345,6 +372,30 @@ mod tests {
         SparsePolynomial::from_coefficients_vec(coeffs)
     }
 
+    #[test]
+    fn test_valid_coefficients() {
+        let mut coeffs = vec![(1, Fr::from(2)), (2, Fr::from(3)), (3, Fr::from(4))];
+        let validation = SparsePolynomial::is_valid_coefficients_vec(&mut coeffs);
+        assert!(validation.is_ok());
+
+        let poly = SparsePolynomial::from_coefficients_vec(coeffs);
+        assert_eq!(poly.coeffs.len(), 3);
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_invalid_zero_coefficient() {
+        let mut coeffs = vec![(1, Fr::from(0)), (2, Fr::from(3))];
+        let validation = SparsePolynomial::is_valid_coefficients_vec(&mut coeffs);
+        assert!(matches!(validation, Err(CoeffVecError::ZeroCoefficient)));
+    }
+
+    #[test]
+    fn test_invalid_duplicate_degrees() {
+        let mut coeffs = vec![(1, Fr::from(2)), (1, Fr::from(3))];
+        let validation = SparsePolynomial::is_valid_coefficients_vec(&mut coeffs);
+        assert!(matches!(validation, Err(CoeffVecError::DuplicateDegree)));
+    }
+
     #[test]
     fn evaluate_at_point() {
         let mut rng = test_rng();