"Is This Document Relevant? ...Probably": A Survey of Probabilistic Models in Information Retrieval

The paper provides an introduction to and survey of probabilistic approaches to modelling Information Retrieval. The basic concepts of probabilistic approaches to Information Retrieval are outlined, and the principles and assumptions upon which the approaches are based are presented. The various models that have been proposed in the development of IR are described, classified, and compared. The models are classified and compared using a common formalism. New approaches that constitute the basis of future research are described