{
  "altLabels": [
    "Ad Hoc Search",
    "Adhoc Retrieval"
  ],
  "definition": "A retrieval task in which new queries or topics are run against a known, fixed collection to find relevant items.",
  "derivedRelations": [
    {
      "target": "retrieval",
      "type": "related"
    }
  ],
  "id": "ad-hoc-retrieval",
  "kind": "Task",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
  "links": [
    {
      "label": "TREC 1999 Adhoc Dataset",
      "type": "officialHomepage",
      "url": "https://catalog.data.gov/dataset/trec-1999-adhoc-dataset"
    }
  ],
  "modifiedAt": "2026-09-12T22:23:29Z",
  "prefLabel": "Ad Hoc Retrieval",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "Searchplex",
    "url": "https://searchplex.net/"
  },
  "relations": [
    {
      "target": "retrieval",
      "type": "broader"
    },
    {
      "note": "Ad hoc retrieval is usually framed around retrieving documents or passages for a topic; entity search targets entities or entity-oriented information.",
      "target": "entity-search",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "Ad hoc retrieval assumes a known collection; federated search searches across multiple sources or search services and must combine their results.",
      "target": "federated-search",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "Ad hoc retrieval can be evaluated as a single-shot batch task; interactive search emphasizes user-system interaction across a search session.",
      "target": "interactive-search",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "target": "ranking",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "test-collection",
      "type": "related"
    }
  ],
  "representations": {
    "html": "https://id.searchplex.net/ad-hoc-retrieval/",
    "json": "https://id.searchplex.net/ad-hoc-retrieval.json",
    "jsonld": "https://id.searchplex.net/ad-hoc-retrieval.jsonld"
  },
  "scheme": "https://id.searchplex.net/scheme/",
  "scopeNote": "Ad hoc retrieval is the classic TREC-style retrieval task: the document collection is known in advance, but the information needs are not. It is distinct from federated search, entity search, routing, and interactive search.",
  "status": "published",
  "uri": "https://id.searchplex.net/ad-hoc-retrieval/"
}