Towards Explainability in Professional Search

Professions such as healthcare, law, recruitment and patent search all share an interest in the resolution of complex information needs. This typically involves the formulation of structured search strategies that are expressed as Boolean strings. However, creating effective Boolean queries remains an ongoing challenge, often compromised by a lack of transparency and reproducibility. In this paper we explore some of the shortcomings of current approaches, examine alternative solutions and make recommendations towards improved explainability in professional search.