Evaluating Generative Ad Hoc Information Retrieval
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Abstract (arXiv)
Recent advances in large language models have enabled the development of viable generative retrieval systems. Instead of a traditional document ranking, generative retrieval systems often directly return a grounded generated text as a response to a query. Quantifying the utility of the textual responses is essential for appropriately evaluating such generative ad hoc retrieval. Yet, the established evaluation methodology for ranking-based ad hoc retrieval is not suited for the reliable and reproducible evaluation of generated responses. To lay a foundation for developing new evaluation methods for generative retrieval systems, we survey the relevant literature from the fields of information retrieval and natural language processing, identify search tasks and system architectures in generative retrieval, develop a new user model, and study its operationalization.
Key facts. Cited by 11 papers in the map (data through 7 Oct 2026). Builds on 73 of its 171 references that are in the map. First posted on arXiv 8 Nov 2023.
Builds on
73 of 171 references.
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Citing papers per year: 2024: 5; 2025: 6.
11 papers.
- 2024Evaluation of Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Surveycited by 146
- 2024From Matching to Generation: A Survey on Generative Information Retrievalcited by 89
- 2024Exploring Autonomous Agents through the Lens of Large Language Models: A Reviewcited by 30
- 2024FeB4RAG: Evaluating Federated Search in the Context of Retrieval Augmented Generationcited by 19
- 2025GINGER: Grounded Information Nugget-Based Generation of Responsescited by 16
- 2025Characterizing Web Search in The Age of Generative AIcited by 5
- 2025The Viability of Crowdsourcing for RAG Evaluationcited by 2
- 2024Neural Corrective Machine Unrankingcited by 1
- 2025Human-Centered Evaluation of RAG outputs: a framework and questionnaire for human-AI collaborationcited by 1
- 2025Q-STRUM Debate: Query-Driven Contrastive Summarization for Recommendation Comparisoncited by 0
- 2025Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 24352 -- Conversational Agents: A Framework for Evaluation (CAFE): Manifestocited by 0
- 2025Characterizing Web Search in The Age of Generative AI13 Oct 2025
- 2025Human-Centered Evaluation of RAG outputs: a framework and questionnaire for human-AI collaboration30 Sep 2025
- 2025Dagstuhl Perspectives Workshop 24352 -- Conversational Agents: A Framework for Evaluation (CAFE): Manifesto8 Jun 2025
- 2025The Viability of Crowdsourcing for RAG Evaluation22 Apr 2025
- 2025GINGER: Grounded Information Nugget-Based Generation of Responses23 Mar 2025
- 2025Q-STRUM Debate: Query-Driven Contrastive Summarization for Recommendation Comparison18 Feb 2025
- 2024Neural Corrective Machine Unranking13 Nov 2024
- 2024Evaluation of Retrieval-Augmented Generation: A Survey13 May 2024
- 2024From Matching to Generation: A Survey on Generative Information Retrieval23 Apr 2024
- 2024Exploring Autonomous Agents through the Lens of Large Language Models: A Review5 Apr 2024
- 2024FeB4RAG: Evaluating Federated Search in the Context of Retrieval Augmented Generation19 Feb 2024