{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4321485347","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3539597.3570376","title":"Global Counterfactual Explainer for Graph Neural Networks","display_name":"Global Counterfactual Explainer for Graph Neural Networks","publication_year":2023,"publication_date":"2023-02-22","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4321485347","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3539597.3570376"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3539597.3570376","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3539597.3570376","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3539597.3570376","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the Sixteenth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"type":"conference-paper","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"gold","oa_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3539597.3570376","any_repository_has_fulltext":null},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5044662028","display_name":"Zexi Huang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1480-4494"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I154570441","display_name":"University of California, Santa Barbara","ror":"https://ror.org/02t274463","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I154570441"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Zexi Huang","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1480-4494","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I154570441"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5003250661","display_name":"Mert Kosan","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8092-5024"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I154570441","display_name":"University of California, Santa Barbara","ror":"https://ror.org/02t274463","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I154570441"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Mert Kosan","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8092-5024","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I154570441"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5049055881","display_name":"Sourav Medya","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0996-2807"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I39422238","display_name":"University of Illinois Chicago","ror":"https://ror.org/02mpq6x41","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I39422238"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Sourav Medya","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0996-2807","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I39422238"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5054697900","display_name":"Sayan Ranu","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4147-9372"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I68891433","display_name":"Indian Institute of Technology Delhi","ror":"https://ror.org/049tgcd06","country_code":"IN","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I68891433"]}],"countries":["IN"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Sayan Ranu","raw_affiliation_strings":["Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4147-9372","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Delhi, India","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I68891433"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5036639779","display_name":"Ambuj K. Singh","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1997-7140"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I154570441","display_name":"University of California, Santa Barbara","ror":"https://ror.org/02t274463","country_code":"US","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I154570441"]}],"countries":["US"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Ambuj Singh","raw_affiliation_strings":["University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA"],"raw_orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1997-7140","affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I154570441"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":2,"institutions_distinct_count":3,"corresponding_author_ids":[],"corresponding_institution_ids":[],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":null,"has_fulltext":true,"cited_by_count":45,"citation_normalized_percentile":null,"cited_by_percentile_year":null,"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"141","last_page":"149"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11273","display_name":"Advanced Graph Neural Networks","score":0.9995999932289124,"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/T11273","display_name":"Advanced Graph Neural Networks","score":0.9995999932289124,"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/T12026","display_name":"Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI)","score":0.9980999827384949,"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/T10028","display_name":"Topic Modeling","score":0.9902999997138977,"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/counterfactual-thinking","display_name":"Counterfactual thinking","score":0.968819260597229},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/computer-science","display_name":"Computer science","score":0.7304913401603699},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/popularity","display_name":"Popularity","score":0.590592622756958},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/artificial-intelligence","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","score":0.5283209681510925},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/theoretical-computer-science","display_name":"Theoretical computer science","score":0.49866271018981934},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/graph","display_name":"Graph","score":0.4857397675514221},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/machine-learning","display_name":"Machine learning","score":0.47954532504081726},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/artificial-neural-network","display_name":"Artificial neural network","score":0.4434288442134857}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C108650721","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1783253","display_name":"Counterfactual thinking","level":2,"score":0.968819260597229},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.7304913401603699},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C2780586970","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1357284","display_name":"Popularity","level":2,"score":0.590592622756958},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.5283209681510925},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C80444323","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2878974","display_name":"Theoretical computer science","level":1,"score":0.49866271018981934},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C132525143","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q141488","display_name":"Graph","level":2,"score":0.4857397675514221},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.47954532504081726},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C50644808","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q192776","display_name":"Artificial neural network","level":2,"score":0.4434288442134857},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C138885662","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5891","display_name":"Philosophy","level":0,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C15744967","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9418","display_name":"Psychology","level":0,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C111472728","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q9471","display_name":"Epistemology","level":1,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C77805123","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q161272","display_name":"Social psychology","level":1,"score":0.0}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":1,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/3539597.3570376","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3539597.3570376","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3539597.3570376","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the Sixteenth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining","raw_type":"proceedings-article"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3539597.3570376","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3539597.3570376","pdf_url":"https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3539597.3570376","source":null,"license":"cc-by","license_id":"https://openalex.org/licenses/cc-by","version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the Sixteenth ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"sustainable_development_goals":[{"score":0.6499999761581421,"id":"https://metadata.un.org/sdg/4","display_name":"Quality Education"}],"awards":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/G6160989094","display_name":"III: Small:  Explaining heterogeneity within and across evolving networks","funder_award_id":"1817046","funder_id":"https://openalex.org/F4320306076","funder_display_name":"National Science Foundation"}],"funders":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320306076","display_name":"National Science Foundation","ror":"https://ror.org/021nxhr62"}],"has_content":{"pdf":true,"grobid_xml":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4321485347.pdf","grobid_xml":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4321485347.grobid-xml"},"referenced_works_count":20,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W265320276","https://openalex.org/W1492230849","https://openalex.org/W1553409264","https://openalex.org/W1977340881","https://openalex.org/W2010541316","https://openalex.org/W2060141891","https://openalex.org/W2092750499","https://openalex.org/W2099438806","https://openalex.org/W2149490995","https://openalex.org/W2154851992","https://openalex.org/W2615384791","https://openalex.org/W2744999500","https://openalex.org/W3104097132","https://openalex.org/W3122110430","https://openalex.org/W3130218089","https://openalex.org/W3166795997","https://openalex.org/W3172698735","https://openalex.org/W3190573233","https://openalex.org/W4221106024","https://openalex.org/W4298450457"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W3201448254","https://openalex.org/W4286970243","https://openalex.org/W2066431708","https://openalex.org/W2368605798","https://openalex.org/W4384133558","https://openalex.org/W3025615835","https://openalex.org/W173210993","https://openalex.org/W2390660599","https://openalex.org/W3028847759","https://openalex.org/W2393688264"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Graph":[0],"neural":[1],"networks":[2],"(GNNs)":[3],"find":[4,118],"applications":[5],"in":[6,59,181,188],"various":[7],"domains":[8],"such":[9],"as":[10],"computational":[11],"biology,":[12],"natural":[13],"language":[14],"processing,":[15],"and":[16,91,176,184],"computer":[17],"security.":[18],"Owing":[19],"to":[20,28,41,51,72,86,117,192],"their":[21],"popularity,":[22],"there":[23],"is":[24,44,50],"an":[25,146],"increasing":[26],"need":[27],"explain":[29],"GNN":[30,54],"predictions":[31],"since":[32],"GNNs":[33,69,109],"are":[34,70],"black-box":[35],"machine":[36],"learning":[37],"models.":[38],"One":[39],"way":[40],"address":[42],"this":[43,101,132],"counterfactual":[45,66,112,124,196],"reasoning":[46],"where":[47],"the":[48,53,60,105,163,173,193],"objective":[49],"change":[52],"prediction":[55],"by":[56,141],"minimal":[57],"changes":[58],"input":[61,129],"graph.":[62],"Existing":[63],"methods":[64],"for":[65],"explanation":[67,165],"of":[68,82,108,122,149,172],"limited":[71],"instance-specific":[73],"local":[74,195],"reasoning.":[75,113],"This":[76],"approach":[77],"has":[78],"two":[79],"major":[80],"limitations":[81],"not":[83],"being":[84],"able":[85],"offer":[87],"global":[88,106,111,164],"recourse":[89,182,189],"policies":[90],"overloading":[92],"human":[93],"cognitive":[94],"ability":[95],"with":[96,151],"too":[97],"much":[98],"information.":[99],"In":[100],"work,":[102],"we":[103,115,134],"study":[104],"explainability":[107],"through":[110],"Specifically,":[114],"want":[116],"a":[119,137,152,178,185],"small":[120],"set":[121],"representative":[123],"graphs":[125,150],"that":[126,162],"explains":[127],"all":[128],"graphs.":[130],"Towards":[131],"goal,":[133],"propose":[135],"GCFExplainer,":[136],"novel":[138],"algorithm":[139],"powered":[140],"vertex-reinforced":[142],"random":[143],"walks":[144],"on":[145,157],"edit":[147],"map":[148],"greedy":[153],"summary.":[154],"Extensive":[155],"experiments":[156],"real":[158],"graph":[159],"datasets":[160],"show":[161],"from":[166],"GCFExplainer":[167],"provides":[168],"important":[169],"high-level":[170],"insights":[171],"model":[174],"behavior":[175],"achieves":[177],"46.9%":[179],"gain":[180],"coverage":[183],"9.5%":[186],"reduction":[187],"cost":[190],"compared":[191],"state-of-the-art":[194],"explainers.":[197]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2026,"cited_by_count":5},{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":14},{"year":2024,"cited_by_count":19},{"year":2023,"cited_by_count":6},{"year":2022,"cited_by_count":1}],"updated_date":"2026-07-21T08:15:58.654021","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}
