{"id":"https://openalex.org/W2130900715","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1148170.1148238","title":"What makes a query difficult?","display_name":"What makes a query difficult?","publication_year":2006,"publication_date":"2006-08-06","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W2130900715","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1148170.1148238","mag":"2130900715"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/1148170.1148238","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1148170.1148238","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 29th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":false,"oa_status":"closed","oa_url":null,"any_repository_has_fulltext":false},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5103324615","display_name":"David Carmel","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1161-7084"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210167297","display_name":"IBM Research - Haifa","ror":"https://ror.org/05rw9t746","country_code":"IL","type":"facility","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I1341412227","https://openalex.org/I4210114115","https://openalex.org/I4210167297"]}],"countries":["IL"],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"David Carmel","raw_affiliation_strings":["IBM Haifa Research Labs, Haifa, Israel"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"IBM Haifa Research Labs, Haifa, Israel","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210167297"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5009670109","display_name":"Elad Yom\u2010Tov","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2380-4584"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210167297","display_name":"IBM Research - Haifa","ror":"https://ror.org/05rw9t746","country_code":"IL","type":"facility","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I1341412227","https://openalex.org/I4210114115","https://openalex.org/I4210167297"]}],"countries":["IL"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Elad Yom-Tov","raw_affiliation_strings":["IBM Haifa Research Labs, Haifa, Israel"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"IBM Haifa Research Labs, Haifa, Israel","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210167297"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5087108711","display_name":"Adam Darlow","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210167297","display_name":"IBM Research - Haifa","ror":"https://ror.org/05rw9t746","country_code":"IL","type":"facility","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I1341412227","https://openalex.org/I4210114115","https://openalex.org/I4210167297"]}],"countries":["IL"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Adam Darlow","raw_affiliation_strings":["IBM Haifa Research Labs, Haifa, Israel"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"IBM Haifa Research Labs, Haifa, Israel","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210167297"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5080491347","display_name":"Dan Pelleg","orcid":null},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210167297","display_name":"IBM Research - Haifa","ror":"https://ror.org/05rw9t746","country_code":"IL","type":"facility","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I1341412227","https://openalex.org/I4210114115","https://openalex.org/I4210167297"]}],"countries":["IL"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Dan Pelleg","raw_affiliation_strings":["IBM Haifa Research Labs, Haifa, Israel"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"IBM Haifa Research Labs, Haifa, Israel","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210167297"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":1,"institutions_distinct_count":4,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5103324615"],"corresponding_institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210167297"],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":49.0567,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":202,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.99831109,"is_in_top_1_percent":true,"is_in_top_10_percent":true},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":95,"max":100},"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"390","last_page":"397"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10286","display_name":"Information Retrieval and Search Behavior","score":0.9983000159263611,"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"}},"topics":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/T10286","display_name":"Information Retrieval and Search Behavior","score":0.9983000159263611,"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/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.9911999702453613,"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/T12072","display_name":"Machine Learning and Algorithms","score":0.9896000027656555,"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"}}],"keywords":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/computer-science","display_name":"Computer science","score":0.8583613634109497},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/information-retrieval","display_name":"Information retrieval","score":0.7231786847114563},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/component","display_name":"Component (thermodynamics)","score":0.6590089797973633},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/set","display_name":"Set (abstract data type)","score":0.6547578573226929},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/web-search-query","display_name":"Web search query","score":0.5379356145858765},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/query-expansion","display_name":"Query expansion","score":0.5345925688743591},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/query-language","display_name":"Query language","score":0.5132922530174255},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/web-query-classification","display_name":"Web query classification","score":0.5091192126274109},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/query-optimization","display_name":"Query optimization","score":0.48647186160087585},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/domain","display_name":"Domain (mathematical analysis)","score":0.48102837800979614},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/topic-model","display_name":"Topic model","score":0.44573521614074707},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/data-mining","display_name":"Data mining","score":0.33753764629364014},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/search-engine","display_name":"Search engine","score":0.294697642326355}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.8583613634109497},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C23123220","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q816826","display_name":"Information retrieval","level":1,"score":0.7231786847114563},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C168167062","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1117970","display_name":"Component (thermodynamics)","level":2,"score":0.6590089797973633},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C177264268","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1514741","display_name":"Set (abstract data type)","level":2,"score":0.6547578573226929},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C164120249","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q995982","display_name":"Web search query","level":3,"score":0.5379356145858765},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C99016210","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5488129","display_name":"Query expansion","level":2,"score":0.5345925688743591},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C192028432","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q845739","display_name":"Query language","level":2,"score":0.5132922530174255},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C118689300","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7978614","display_name":"Web query classification","level":4,"score":0.5091192126274109},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C157692150","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2919848","display_name":"Query optimization","level":2,"score":0.48647186160087585},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C36503486","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11235244","display_name":"Domain (mathematical analysis)","level":2,"score":0.48102837800979614},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C171686336","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3532085","display_name":"Topic model","level":2,"score":0.44573521614074707},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C124101348","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q172491","display_name":"Data mining","level":1,"score":0.33753764629364014},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C97854310","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19541","display_name":"Search engine","level":2,"score":0.294697642326355},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C199360897","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9143","display_name":"Programming language","level":1,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C33923547","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q395","display_name":"Mathematics","level":0,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C121332964","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q413","display_name":"Physics","level":0,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C97355855","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11473","display_name":"Thermodynamics","level":1,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C134306372","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7754","display_name":"Mathematical analysis","level":1,"score":0.0}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":2,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/1148170.1148238","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/1148170.1148238","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 29th annual international ACM SIGIR conference on Research and development in information retrieval","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},{"id":"pmh:oai:CiteSeerX.psu:10.1.1.140.3933","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.140.3933","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":"http://www.yom-tov.info/Papers/SIGIR2006.pdf","raw_type":"text"}],"best_oa_location":null,"sustainable_development_goals":[{"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/4","score":0.4699999988079071,"display_name":"Quality Education"}],"awards":[],"funders":[],"has_content":{"pdf":false,"grobid_xml":false},"content_urls":null,"referenced_works_count":29,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W11235290","https://openalex.org/W18749483","https://openalex.org/W55312212","https://openalex.org/W132343450","https://openalex.org/W146156986","https://openalex.org/W1507711745","https://openalex.org/W1574862351","https://openalex.org/W1577798322","https://openalex.org/W1963658069","https://openalex.org/W1980067458","https://openalex.org/W1982433219","https://openalex.org/W2011039300","https://openalex.org/W2079168273","https://openalex.org/W2096623622","https://openalex.org/W2150240006","https://openalex.org/W2197919320","https://openalex.org/W2496945004","https://openalex.org/W2799061466","https://openalex.org/W2916928529","https://openalex.org/W4230624213","https://openalex.org/W4244494905","https://openalex.org/W4285719527","https://openalex.org/W6602266041","https://openalex.org/W6605428294","https://openalex.org/W6605837613","https://openalex.org/W6630055334","https://openalex.org/W6681512623","https://openalex.org/W6723301277","https://openalex.org/W7014191107"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W2572349046","https://openalex.org/W2096359267","https://openalex.org/W2026738364","https://openalex.org/W3197639690","https://openalex.org/W2124814993","https://openalex.org/W2113390685","https://openalex.org/W2017989738","https://openalex.org/W1981131819","https://openalex.org/W8514837","https://openalex.org/W2186703450"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"This":[0],"work":[1],"tries":[2],"to":[3,58,132],"answer":[4],"the":[5,20,27,42,46,53,59,64,78,84,91,94,101,106,111,114,126,136,141],"question":[6],"of":[7,23,38,55,67,86,90,113,128,143],"what":[8],"makes":[9],"a":[10,15,24,39,144],"query":[11,50,123],"difficult.":[12],"It":[13],"addresses":[14],"novel":[16],"model":[17,92,95,116],"that":[18,72],"captures":[19],"main":[21],"components":[22,31,37],"topic":[25,33,40,60,73,129],"and":[26,32,63,139],"relationship":[28],"between":[29,80],"those":[30],"difficulty.":[34],"The":[35],"three":[36],"are":[41],"textual":[43],"expression":[44],"describing":[45],"information":[47],"need":[48],"(the":[49,61],"or":[51],"queries),":[52],"set":[54],"documents":[56],"relevant":[57],"Qrels),":[62],"entire":[65],"collection":[66],"documents.":[68],"We":[69,109],"show":[70],"experimentally":[71],"difficulty":[74,115],"strongly":[75],"depends":[76],"on":[77,105],"distances":[79],"these":[81],"components.":[82,108],"In":[83],"absence":[85],"knowledge":[87],"about":[88],"one":[89],"components,":[93],"is":[96],"still":[97],"useful":[98],"by":[99,135],"approximating":[100],"missing":[102],"component":[103],"based":[104],"other":[107],"demonstrate":[110],"applicability":[112],"for":[117],"several":[118],"uses":[119],"such":[120],"as":[121],"predicting":[122,125],"difficulty,":[124],"number":[127],"aspects":[130],"expected":[131],"be":[133],"covered":[134],"search":[137],"results,":[138],"analyzing":[140],"findability":[142],"specific":[145],"domain.":[146]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2026,"cited_by_count":2},{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":2},{"year":2024,"cited_by_count":4},{"year":2023,"cited_by_count":6},{"year":2022,"cited_by_count":7},{"year":2021,"cited_by_count":9},{"year":2020,"cited_by_count":3},{"year":2019,"cited_by_count":4},{"year":2018,"cited_by_count":4},{"year":2017,"cited_by_count":8},{"year":2016,"cited_by_count":5},{"year":2015,"cited_by_count":9},{"year":2014,"cited_by_count":15},{"year":2013,"cited_by_count":11},{"year":2012,"cited_by_count":19}],"updated_date":"2026-04-04T16:13:02.066488","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}