{"id":"https://openalex.org/W4293248853","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3539813.3545122","title":"BERT Rankers are Brittle","display_name":"BERT Rankers are Brittle","publication_year":2022,"publication_date":"2022-08-23","ids":{"openalex":"https://openalex.org/W4293248853","doi":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3539813.3545122"},"language":"en","primary_location":{"id":"doi:10.1145/3539813.3545122","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3539813.3545122","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 2022 ACM SIGIR International Conference on Theory of Information Retrieval","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},"type":"article","indexed_in":["crossref"],"open_access":{"is_oa":true,"oa_status":"green","oa_url":"https://repository.tudelft.nl/file/File_a3b60bea-8550-4b92-99eb-a32f9ba1886c","any_repository_has_fulltext":true},"authorships":[{"author_position":"first","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5100680199","display_name":"Yumeng Wang","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2105-8477"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210136150","display_name":"L3S Research Center","ror":"https://ror.org/039t4wk02","country_code":"DE","type":"facility","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I114112103","https://openalex.org/I4210136150","https://openalex.org/I94509681"]}],"countries":["DE"],"is_corresponding":true,"raw_author_name":"Yumeng Wang","raw_affiliation_strings":["L3S Research Center, Hannover, Germany"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"L3S Research Center, Hannover, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210136150"]}]},{"author_position":"middle","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5015941852","display_name":"Lijun Lyu","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7268-4902"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I4210136150","display_name":"L3S Research Center","ror":"https://ror.org/039t4wk02","country_code":"DE","type":"facility","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I114112103","https://openalex.org/I4210136150","https://openalex.org/I94509681"]}],"countries":["DE"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Lijun Lyu","raw_affiliation_strings":["L3S Research Center, Hannover, Germany"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"L3S Research Center, Hannover, Germany","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210136150"]}]},{"author_position":"last","author":{"id":"https://openalex.org/A5075681290","display_name":"Avishek Anand","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0163-0739"},"institutions":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/I98358874","display_name":"Delft University of Technology","ror":"https://ror.org/02e2c7k09","country_code":"NL","type":"education","lineage":["https://openalex.org/I98358874"]}],"countries":["NL"],"is_corresponding":false,"raw_author_name":"Avishek Anand","raw_affiliation_strings":["Delft University of Technology, Delft, Holland"],"affiliations":[{"raw_affiliation_string":"Delft University of Technology, Delft, Holland","institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I98358874"]}]}],"institutions":[],"countries_distinct_count":2,"institutions_distinct_count":3,"corresponding_author_ids":["https://openalex.org/A5100680199"],"corresponding_institution_ids":["https://openalex.org/I4210136150"],"apc_list":null,"apc_paid":null,"fwci":1.8042,"has_fulltext":false,"cited_by_count":15,"citation_normalized_percentile":{"value":0.87340531,"is_in_top_1_percent":false,"is_in_top_10_percent":false},"cited_by_percentile_year":{"min":95,"max":99},"biblio":{"volume":null,"issue":null,"first_page":"115","last_page":"120"},"is_retracted":false,"is_paratext":false,"is_xpac":false,"primary_topic":{"id":"https://openalex.org/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.998199999332428,"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/T11689","display_name":"Adversarial Robustness in Machine Learning","score":0.998199999332428,"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":0.9973000288009644,"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/T11307","display_name":"Domain Adaptation and Few-Shot Learning","score":0.9882000088691711,"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":0.8182293176651001},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/demotion","display_name":"Demotion","score":0.8112586140632629},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/adversarial-system","display_name":"Adversarial system","score":0.7592928409576416},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/ranking","display_name":"Ranking (information retrieval)","score":0.5493837594985962},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/artificial-intelligence","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","score":0.5117053985595703},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/information-retrieval","display_name":"Information retrieval","score":0.4652842879295349},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/rank","display_name":"Rank (graph theory)","score":0.4269563555717468},{"id":"https://openalex.org/keywords/machine-learning","display_name":"Machine learning","score":0.3808830976486206}],"concepts":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/C41008148","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q21198","display_name":"Computer science","level":0,"score":0.8182293176651001},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C104545631","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q464858","display_name":"Demotion","level":3,"score":0.8112586140632629},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C37736160","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1801315","display_name":"Adversarial system","level":2,"score":0.7592928409576416},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C189430467","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7293293","display_name":"Ranking (information retrieval)","level":2,"score":0.5493837594985962},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C154945302","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q11660","display_name":"Artificial intelligence","level":1,"score":0.5117053985595703},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C23123220","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q816826","display_name":"Information retrieval","level":1,"score":0.4652842879295349},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C164226766","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7293202","display_name":"Rank (graph theory)","level":2,"score":0.4269563555717468},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C119857082","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2539","display_name":"Machine learning","level":1,"score":0.3808830976486206},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C17744445","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q36442","display_name":"Political science","level":0,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C94625758","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7163","display_name":"Politics","level":2,"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/C114614502","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q76592","display_name":"Combinatorics","level":1,"score":0.0},{"id":"https://openalex.org/C199539241","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7748","display_name":"Law","level":1,"score":0.0}],"mesh":[],"locations_count":2,"locations":[{"id":"doi:10.1145/3539813.3545122","is_oa":false,"landing_page_url":"https://doi.org/10.1145/3539813.3545122","pdf_url":null,"source":null,"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"publishedVersion","is_accepted":true,"is_published":true,"raw_source_name":"Proceedings of the 2022 ACM SIGIR International Conference on Theory of Information Retrieval","raw_type":"proceedings-article"},{"id":"pmh:oai:tudelft.nl:uuid:4c6da9fa-794e-4ad3-b561-be2115000def","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4c6da9fa-794e-4ad3-b561-be2115000def","pdf_url":"https://repository.tudelft.nl/file/File_a3b60bea-8550-4b92-99eb-a32f9ba1886c","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400906","display_name":"Research Repository (Delft University of Technology)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I98358874","host_organization_name":"Delft University of Technology","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I98358874"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":"","raw_type":"conference paper"}],"best_oa_location":{"id":"pmh:oai:tudelft.nl:uuid:4c6da9fa-794e-4ad3-b561-be2115000def","is_oa":true,"landing_page_url":"http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:4c6da9fa-794e-4ad3-b561-be2115000def","pdf_url":"https://repository.tudelft.nl/file/File_a3b60bea-8550-4b92-99eb-a32f9ba1886c","source":{"id":"https://openalex.org/S4306400906","display_name":"Research Repository (Delft University of Technology)","issn_l":null,"issn":null,"is_oa":false,"is_in_doaj":false,"is_core":false,"host_organization":"https://openalex.org/I98358874","host_organization_name":"Delft University of Technology","host_organization_lineage":["https://openalex.org/I98358874"],"host_organization_lineage_names":[],"type":"repository"},"license":null,"license_id":null,"version":"submittedVersion","is_accepted":false,"is_published":false,"raw_source_name":"","raw_type":"conference paper"},"sustainable_development_goals":[],"awards":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/G8618360319","display_name":null,"funder_award_id":"AN 996/1-1","funder_id":"https://openalex.org/F4320320879","funder_display_name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft"}],"funders":[{"id":"https://openalex.org/F4320320879","display_name":"Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft","ror":"https://ror.org/018mejw64"}],"has_content":{"grobid_xml":false,"pdf":true},"content_urls":{"pdf":"https://content.openalex.org/works/W4293248853.pdf"},"referenced_works_count":10,"referenced_works":["https://openalex.org/W2798964384","https://openalex.org/W2949128310","https://openalex.org/W2966491090","https://openalex.org/W3013870856","https://openalex.org/W3015001695","https://openalex.org/W3020242586","https://openalex.org/W3102491798","https://openalex.org/W3170572542","https://openalex.org/W6600617704","https://openalex.org/W6738720351"],"related_works":["https://openalex.org/W4388075718","https://openalex.org/W2785600966","https://openalex.org/W2126575968","https://openalex.org/W2376656677","https://openalex.org/W2122569314","https://openalex.org/W2360904774","https://openalex.org/W2370285367","https://openalex.org/W3127940273","https://openalex.org/W2124379941","https://openalex.org/W3160516639"],"abstract_inverted_index":{"Contextual":[0],"ranking":[1,18,25],"models":[2,26],"based":[3],"on":[4,126],"BERT":[5,188],"are":[6,39],"now":[7],"well":[8],"established":[9],"for":[10,55,130],"a":[11,49,77,83,91,101,110,117,149],"wide":[12],"range":[13],"of":[14,23,58,71,80,104,116,137,152,166],"passage":[15],"and":[16,62,181],"document":[17,88,128,139,169],"tasks.":[19],"However,":[20],"the":[21,114,127,134,138],"robustness":[22],"BERT-based":[24],"under":[27],"adversarial":[28,43,56,143,154,173],"inputs":[29],"is":[30,74],"under-explored.":[31],"In":[32],"this":[33],"paper,":[34],"we":[35,52,120,147],"argue":[36],"that":[37,100,122,156],"BERT-rankers":[38,123],"not":[40],"immune":[41],"to":[42,75,82,89,142,159],"attacks":[44],"targeting":[45],"retrieved":[46],"documents":[47,64,160],"given":[48],"query.":[50],"Firstly,":[51],"propose":[53],"algorithms":[54,73],"perturbation":[57],"both":[59],"highly":[60,84],"relevant":[61,85],"non-relevant":[63,87],"using":[65],"gradient-based":[66],"optimization":[67],"methods.":[68],"The":[69],"aim":[70],"our":[72,172],"add/replace":[76],"small":[78,102,150],"number":[79,103],"tokens":[81,105,174],"or":[86,95,190],"cause":[90],"large":[92,111],"rank":[93,115,164],"demotion":[94],"promotion.":[96],"Our":[97],"experiments":[98],"show":[99,176],"can":[106],"already":[107],"result":[108,161],"in":[109,113,162],"change":[112],"document.":[118],"Moreover,":[119],"find":[121,148],"heavily":[124],"rely":[125],"start/head":[129],"relevance":[131],"prediction,":[132],"making":[133],"initial":[135],"part":[136],"more":[140],"susceptible":[141],"attacks.":[144],"More":[145],"interestingly,":[146],"set":[151],"recurring":[153],"words":[155],"when":[157],"added":[158],"successful":[163],"demotion/promotion":[165],"any":[167],"relevant/non-relevant":[168],"respectively.":[170],"Finally,":[171],"also":[175],"particular":[177],"topic":[178],"preferences":[179],"within":[180],"across":[182],"datasets,":[183],"exposing":[184],"potential":[185],"biases":[186],"from":[187],"pre-training":[189],"downstream":[191],"datasets.":[192]},"counts_by_year":[{"year":2026,"cited_by_count":2},{"year":2025,"cited_by_count":2},{"year":2024,"cited_by_count":6},{"year":2023,"cited_by_count":5}],"updated_date":"2026-04-21T08:09:41.155169","created_date":"2025-10-10T00:00:00"}