# FedHERO: A Federated Learning Approach for Node Classification Task on Heterophilic Graphs

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.21206 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2504.21206/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 75 of its 105 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 29 Apr 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 30 of 75)

- [Semi-Supervised Classification with Graph Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1609.02907/) (2016)
- [Graph Attention Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10903/) (2017)
- [Communication-Efficient Learning of Deep Networks from Decentralized Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1602.05629/) (2016)
- [How Powerful are Graph Neural Networks?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.00826/) (2018)
- [A Comprehensive Survey on Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.00596/) (2019)
- [Graph Neural Networks: A Review of Methods and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.08434/) (2018)
- [Federated Learning: Challenges, Methods, and Future Directions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.07873/) (2019)
- [Graph Convolutional Neural Networks for Web-Scale Recommender Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.01973/) (2018)
- [Geometric deep learning: going beyond Euclidean data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.08097/) (2016)
- [Revisiting Semi-Supervised Learning with Graph Embeddings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1603.08861/) (2016)
- [Representation Learning on Graphs with Jumping Knowledge Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.03536/) (2018)
- [Graph Neural Networks for Social Recommendation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.07243/) (2019)
- [Benchmarking Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2003.00982/) (2020)
- [GraphSAINT: Graph Sampling Based Inductive Learning Method](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1907.04931/) (2019)
- [Adaptive Universal Generalized PageRank Graph Neural Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.07988/) (2020)
- [Multi-scale Attributed Node Embedding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.13021/) (2019)
- [Rethinking Graph Transformers with Spectral Attention](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.03893/) (2021)
- [MixHop: Higher-Order Graph Convolutional Architectures via Sparsified Neighborhood Mixing](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.00067/) (2019)
- [Diffusion Improves Graph Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1911.05485/) (2019)
- [Explainability in Graph Neural Networks: A Taxonomic Survey](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2012.15445/) (2020)
- [Graph Structure Learning for Robust Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.10203/) (2020)
- [Beyond Low-frequency Information in Graph Convolutional Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2101.00797/) (2021)
- [Session-based Recommendation with Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.00855/) (2018)
- [Towards Deeper Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.09296/) (2020)
- [Learning Discrete Structures for Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.11960/) (2019)
- [Iterative Deep Graph Learning for Graph Neural Networks: Better and Robust Node Embeddings](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.13009/) (2020)
- [NodeFormer: A Scalable Graph Structure Learning Transformer for Node Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2306.08385/) (2023)
- [Data Augmentation for Graph Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.06830/) (2020)
- [Two Sides of the Same Coin: Heterophily and Oversmoothing in Graph Convolutional Neural Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.06462/) (2021)
- [Is Homophily a Necessity for Graph Neural Networks?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.06134/) (2021)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [MM-OpenFGL: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Multimodal Federated Graph Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.22416/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Federated Graph Learning (FGL) empowers clients to collaboratively train Graph neural networks (GNNs) in a distributed manner while preserving data privacy. However, FGL methods usually require that the graph data owned by all clients is homophilic to ensure similar neighbor distribution patterns of nodes. Such an assumption ensures that the learned knowledge is consistent across the local models from all clients. Therefore, these local models can be properly aggregated as a global model without undermining the overall performance. Nevertheless, when the neighbor distribution patterns of nodes vary across different clients (e.g., when clients hold graphs with different levels of heterophily), their local models may gain different and even conflict knowledge from their node-level predictive tasks. Consequently, aggregating these local models usually leads to catastrophic performance deterioration on the global model. To address this challenge, we propose FedHERO, an FGL framework designed to harness and share insights from heterophilic graphs effectively. At the heart of FedHERO is a dual-channel GNN equipped with a structure learner, engineered to discern the structural knowledge encoded in the local graphs. With this specialized component, FedHERO enables the local model for each client to identify and learn patterns that are universally applicable across graphs with different patterns of node neighbor distributions. FedHERO not only enhances the performance of individual client models by leveraging both local and shared structural insights but also sets a new precedent in this field to effectively handle graph data with various node neighbor distribution patterns. We conduct extensive experiments to validate the superior performance of FedHERO against existing alternatives.