{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4405030403","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3802824","title":"Understanding the Fundamental Design Decisions of Retrieval-Augmented Generation Systems","display_name":"Understanding the Fundamental Design Decisions of Retrieval-Augmented Generation Systems","publication_year":2026,"publication_date":"2026-04-15","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4405030403","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3802824"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3802824","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3802824","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3802824","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S142627899","display_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","issn_l":"1049-331X","issn":["1049-331X","1557-7392"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["ccf-a","cwts-core","dongbi-a","jufo-3","norway-2","poland-100","russia-white-list-1"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319798","host_organization_name":"Association for Computing Machinery","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319798"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Association for Computing Machinery"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","raw_type":"journal-article"},"volume":null,"type":"article","is_traditional":true,"indexed_in":["arxiv","crossref","datacite"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.19463","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5102958575","display_name":"Shengming Zhao","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5035-2206","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5035-2206"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I24943067","display_name":"Fudan University","ror":"https://ror.org/013q1eq08","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I24943067"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Shengming Zhao","raw_affiliation_strings":["Fudan University, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5035-2206","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Fudan University, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I24943067"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Yuchen Shao","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0414-7521","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0414-7521"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4405279436","display_name":"Shanghai Innovation Institute","ror":"https://ror.org/01fatbw66","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I4405279436"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I66867065","display_name":"East China Normal University","ror":"https://ror.org/02n96ep67","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I66867065"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Yuchen Shao","raw_affiliation_strings":["East China Normal University and Shanghai Innovation Institute, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0009-0414-7521","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"East China Normal University and Shanghai Innovation Institute, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4405279436","https://openalex.org/I66867065"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Yuheng Huang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3666-4020","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3666-4020"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I74801974","display_name":"The University of Tokyo","ror":"https://ror.org/057zh3y96","country_code":"JP","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I74801974"]}],"countries":["JP"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Yuheng Huang","raw_affiliation_strings":["The University of Tokyo, Japan"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3666-4020","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"The University of Tokyo, Japan","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I74801974"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":null,"display_name":"Jiayang Song","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7093-9781","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7093-9781"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I111950717","display_name":"Macau University of Science and Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/03jqs2n27","country_code":"MO","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I111950717","https://openalex.org/I4391767947"]}],"countries":["MO"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Jiayang Song","raw_affiliation_strings":["Macau University of Science and Technology, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7093-9781","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Macau University of Science and Technology, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I111950717"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5113283222","display_name":"Chengcheng Wan","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9162-9688","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9162-9688","https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4559-5426"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I60158472","display_name":"Concordia University","ror":"https://ror.org/0420zvk78","country_code":"CA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}],"countries":["CA"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zhijie Wang","raw_affiliation_strings":["Concordia University, Canada"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4559-5426","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Concordia University, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I60158472"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5113283222","display_name":"Chengcheng Wan","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9162-9688","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9162-9688","https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4559-5426"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4405279436","display_name":"Shanghai Innovation Institute","ror":"https://ror.org/01fatbw66","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I4405279436"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I66867065","display_name":"East China Normal University","ror":"https://ror.org/02n96ep67","country_code":"CN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I66867065"]}],"countries":["CN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Chengcheng Wan","raw_affiliation_strings":["East China Normal University and Shanghai Innovation Institute, China"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9162-9688","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"East China Normal University and Shanghai Innovation Institute, China","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4405279436","https://openalex.org/I66867065"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5100462123","display_name":"\u041b\u0435\u0439 \u041c\u0430","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6024-3854","observed_orcids":["https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6024-3854","https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8621-2420","https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6219-0526"]},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I154425047","display_name":"University of Alberta","ror":"https://ror.org/0160cpw27","country_code":"CA","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I154425047"]},{"id":"https://openalex.org/I74801974","display_name":"The University of Tokyo","ror":"https://ror.org/057zh3y96","country_code":"JP","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I74801974"]}],"countries":["CA","JP"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Lei Ma","raw_affiliation_strings":["The University of Tokyo, Japan, and University of Alberta, Canada"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8621-2420","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"The University of Tokyo, Japan, and University of Alberta, Canada","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I154425047","https://openalex.org/I74801974"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":4,"institutions_distinct_count":7,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":34.1462,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":42,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.99727604,"is_in_top_1_percent":true,"is_in_top_10_percent":true},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":99,"max":100},"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":null,"last_page":null},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.9603999853134155,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.9603999853134155,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1702","display_name":"Artificial Intelligence"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10286","display_name":"Information Retrieval and Search Behavior","score":0.03009999915957451,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}},{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10260","display_name":"Software Engineering Research","score":0.002400000113993883,"subfield":{"id":"https://openalex.org/subfields/1710","display_name":"Information Systems"},"field":{"id":"https://openalex.org/fields/17","display_name":"Computer Science"},"domain":{"id":"https://openalex.org/domains/3","display_name":"Physical Sciences"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/retrieval-augmented-generation","display_name":"retrieval-augmented generation","score":0.9990000128746033},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/large-language-models","display_name":"large language models","score":0.8849999904632568},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/knowledge-integration","display_name":"knowledge integration","score":0.6859999895095825},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/prompting","display_name":"prompting","score":0.45100000500679016},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/question-answering","display_name":"question answering","score":0.9020000100135803},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/code-generation","display_name":"code generation","score":0.996999979019165},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/failure-modes","display_name":"failure modes","score":0.4779999852180481}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2779530757","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1207505","display_name":"Quality (philosophy)","level":2,"score":0.5934042930603027},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.47461405396461487},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C23123220","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q816826","display_name":"Information retrieval","level":1,"score":0.3682878911495209},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C204321447","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q30642","display_name":"Natural language processing","level":1,"score":0.32185330986976624},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C138885662","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5891","display_name":"Philosophy","level":0,"score":0.11517581343650818},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C111472728","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9471","display_name":"Epistemology","level":1,"score":0.08628502488136292}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":3,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/3802824","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3802824","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3802824","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S142627899","display_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","issn_l":"1049-331X","issn":["1049-331X","1557-7392"],"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":true,"listed_in":["ccf-a","cwts-core","dongbi-a","jufo-3","norway-2","poland-100","russia-white-list-1"],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/P4310319798","host_organization_name":"Association for Computing Machinery","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/P4310319798"],"host_organization_lineage_names":["Association for Computing Machinery"],"type":"journal"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology","raw_type":"journal-article"},{"id":"pmh:oai:arXiv.org:2411.19463","doi":null,"is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.19463","pdf_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.19463","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"listed_in":[],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"text"},{"id":"doi:10.48550/arxiv.2411.19463","doi":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2411.19463","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2411.19463","pdf_url":null,"source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"listed_in":[],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":null,"is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"Preprint"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"pmh:oai:arXiv.org:2411.19463","doi":null,"is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.19463","pdf_url":"https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.19463","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400194","display_name":"arXiv (Cornell University)","issn_l":"2331-8422","issn":["2331-8422"],"is_oa":true,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"listed_in":[],"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I205783295","host_organization_name":"Cornell University","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I205783295"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":null,"raw_type":"text"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"study_designs":[],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":true,"grobid_xml":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4405030403.pdf","grobid_xml":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4405030403.grobid-xml"},"referenced_works_count":70,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W2612431505","https://openalex.org/W2850992922","https://openalex.org/W2889787757","https://openalex.org/W2912924812","https://openalex.org/W2922234936","https://openalex.org/W2948096068","https://openalex.org/W2952862139","https://openalex.org/W2964315653","https://openalex.org/W2970641574","https://openalex.org/W3005780259","https://openalex.org/W3005940936","https://openalex.org/W3015883388","https://openalex.org/W3030163527","https://openalex.org/W3045719304","https://openalex.org/W3090643686","https://openalex.org/W3100925971","https://openalex.org/W3126675481","https://openalex.org/W3162285135","https://openalex.org/W3163930010","https://openalex.org/W3177813494","https://openalex.org/W3180230246","https://openalex.org/W3196239222","https://openalex.org/W4211096536","https://openalex.org/W4226350810","https://openalex.org/W4281483047","https://openalex.org/W4284670548","https://openalex.org/W4285483825","https://openalex.org/W4285600327","https://openalex.org/W4307926351","https://openalex.org/W4320813768","https://openalex.org/W4322718191","https://openalex.org/W4327594616","https://openalex.org/W4362606928","https://openalex.org/W4380881139","https://openalex.org/W4384345649","https://openalex.org/W4385291101","https://openalex.org/W4385570088","https://openalex.org/W4385571271","https://openalex.org/W4386185625","https://openalex.org/W4388483497","https://openalex.org/W4389519118","https://openalex.org/W4389519225","https://openalex.org/W4389984066","https://openalex.org/W4391244683","https://openalex.org/W4391376033","https://openalex.org/W4391876619","https://openalex.org/W4392933327","https://openalex.org/W4393739747","https://openalex.org/W4399530612","https://openalex.org/W4399597451","https://openalex.org/W4399990964","https://openalex.org/W4400582844","https://openalex.org/W4401042735","https://openalex.org/W4401857375","https://openalex.org/W4402346183","https://openalex.org/W4402670290","https://openalex.org/W4403536437","https://openalex.org/W4404782883","https://openalex.org/W4404782899","https://openalex.org/W4404784426","https://openalex.org/W4405968021","https://openalex.org/W4408214684","https://openalex.org/W4411113072","https://openalex.org/W4411113095","https://openalex.org/W4411486143","https://openalex.org/W4411552560","https://openalex.org/W4414219910","https://openalex.org/W4415124086","https://openalex.org/W4417092524","https://openalex.org/W6941243218"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W7161243291","https://openalex.org/W7129086272","https://openalex.org/W7172516471","https://openalex.org/W4414888095","https://openalex.org/W6929646337","https://openalex.org/W7220746290","https://openalex.org/W7165266463","https://openalex.org/W7160907120","https://openalex.org/W7167345612","https://openalex.org/W4416430905"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Retrieval-Augmented":[0],"Generation":[1],"(RAG)":[2],"has":[3],"emerged":[4],"as":[5],"a":[6,32],"critical":[7,91],"technique":[8],"for":[9,189,195],"enhancing":[10],"large":[11],"language":[12],"model":[13,145,182],"(LLM)":[14],"capabilities.":[15,183],"However,":[16],"practitioners":[17,190],"face":[18],"significant":[19],"challenges":[20],"when":[21],"making":[22],"RAG":[23,43,54,94,166,171,197],"deployment":[24,55,95],"decisions.":[25],"While":[26],"existing":[27],"research":[28],"prioritizes":[29],"algorithmic":[30],"innovations,":[31],"systematic":[33,74],"gap":[34],"persists":[35],"in":[36],"understanding":[37],"fundamental":[38],"engineering":[39],"trade-offs":[40],"that":[41,164],"determine":[42],"success.":[44],"We":[45],"present":[46],"the":[47],"first":[48],"comprehensive":[49],"study":[50],"of":[51,111],"three":[52,77],"universal":[53,126,165],"decisions:":[56],"whether":[57],"to":[58,64,68,109],"deploy":[59],"RAG,":[60],"how":[61,67],"much":[62],"information":[63],"retrieve,":[65],"and":[66,79,85,104,144,181,191,202],"integrate":[69],"retrieved":[70],"knowledge":[71],"effectively.":[72],"Through":[73],"experiments":[75],"across":[76],"LLMs":[78],"six":[80],"datasets":[81],"spanning":[82],"question":[83,156],"answering":[84,157],"code":[86,132,148],"generation":[87,133,149],"tasks,":[88],"we":[89],"reveal":[90],"insights:":[92],"(1)":[93],"must":[96],"be":[97],"highly":[98],"selective,":[99],"with":[100,114,147],"variable":[101],"recall":[102],"thresholds":[103],"failure":[105],"modes":[106],"affecting":[107],"up":[108],"12.6%":[110],"samples":[112],"even":[113],"perfect":[115],"documents.":[116],"(2)":[117],"Optimal":[118],"retrieval":[119],"volume":[120],"exhibits":[121],"task-dependent":[122],"behavior\u2014QA":[123],"tasks":[124],"show":[125],"patterns":[127],"(5-10":[128],"documents":[129],"optimal)":[130],"while":[131,155],"requires":[134],"scenario-specific":[135],"optimization.":[136],"(3)":[137],"Knowledge":[138],"integration":[139],"effectiveness":[140],"depends":[141],"on":[142,178],"task":[143,179],"characteristics,":[146],"benefiting":[150],"significantly":[151],"from":[152],"prompting":[153],"methods":[154],"shows":[158],"minimal":[159],"improvement.":[160],"These":[161],"findings":[162],"demonstrate":[163],"strategies":[167],"prove":[168],"inadequate.":[169],"Effective":[170],"systems":[172],"require":[173],"context-aware":[174],"design":[175],"decisions":[176],"based":[177],"characteristics":[180],"Our":[184,199],"analysis":[185],"provides":[186],"evidence-based":[187],"guidance":[188],"establishes":[192],"foundational":[193],"insights":[194],"principled":[196],"deployment.":[198],"code,":[200],"data":[201],"artifacts":[203],"are":[204],"publicly":[205],"available":[206],"at":[207],"https://github.com/ShengmingZ/RAG_Benchmark_Code_QA":[208],".":[209]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2026,"cited_by_count":23},{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":19}],"updated_date":"2026-11-07T11:25:07.637180","created_date":"2024-12-05T00:00:00"}
