{
  "definition": "An index structure that maps terms or other lexical features to postings lists of documents or items in which those features occur.",
  "derivedRelations": [
    {
      "target": "boolean-retrieval",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "exact-match",
      "type": "related"
    }
  ],
  "distinctions": [
    {
      "reason": "An inverted index provides access to postings; BM25 is a scoring method that can use those postings.",
      "statement": "Inverted Index is not BM25.",
      "target": "bm25",
      "targetLabel": "BM25",
      "targetUri": "https://id.searchplex.net/bm25/"
    },
    {
      "reason": "Keyword search is a user-facing search style; an inverted index is one common implementation structure beneath lexical search.",
      "statement": "Inverted Index is not Keyword Search.",
      "target": "keyword-search",
      "targetLabel": "Keyword Search",
      "targetUri": "https://id.searchplex.net/keyword-search/"
    },
    {
      "reason": "An inverted index is an index structure; lexical retrieval is the broader retrieval approach that may use inverted indexes and term-based scoring.",
      "statement": "Inverted Index is not Lexical Retrieval.",
      "target": "lexical-retrieval",
      "targetLabel": "Lexical Retrieval",
      "targetUri": "https://id.searchplex.net/lexical-retrieval/"
    }
  ],
  "id": "inverted-index",
  "kind": "Method",
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/",
  "links": [
    {
      "label": "A first take at building an inverted index",
      "type": "canonicalSurvey",
      "url": "https://nlp.stanford.edu/IR-book/html/htmledition/a-first-take-at-building-an-inverted-index-1.html"
    }
  ],
  "modifiedAt": "2026-09-14T06:43:46Z",
  "prefLabel": "Inverted Index",
  "publisher": {
    "name": "Searchplex",
    "url": "https://searchplex.net/"
  },
  "relations": [
    {
      "note": "An inverted index provides access to postings; BM25 is a scoring method that can use those postings.",
      "target": "bm25",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "Keyword search is a user-facing search style; an inverted index is one common implementation structure beneath lexical search.",
      "target": "keyword-search",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "note": "An inverted index is an index structure; lexical retrieval is the broader retrieval approach that may use inverted indexes and term-based scoring.",
      "target": "lexical-retrieval",
      "type": "notEquivalentTo"
    },
    {
      "target": "bm25",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "keyword-search",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "lexical-retrieval",
      "type": "related"
    },
    {
      "target": "retrieval",
      "type": "usedFor"
    }
  ],
  "representations": {
    "html": "https://id.searchplex.net/inverted-index/",
    "json": "https://id.searchplex.net/inverted-index.json",
    "jsonld": "https://id.searchplex.net/inverted-index.jsonld"
  },
  "scheme": "https://id.searchplex.net/scheme/",
  "scopeNote": "Inverted indexes are foundational infrastructure for lexical retrieval and keyword search. They enable efficient lookup of lexical evidence, but they are not the retrieval task, a ranking function, or a search engine by themselves.",
  "status": "published",
  "uri": "https://id.searchplex.net/inverted-index/"
}