Test-time Corpus Feedback: From Retrieval to RAG

Mandeep Rathee, Venktesh V, Sean MacAvaney, Avishek Anand


Abstract
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) has emerged as a standard framework for knowledge-intensive NLP tasks, combining large language models (LLMs) with document retrieval from external corpora. Despite its widespread use, most RAG pipelines continue to treat retrieval and reasoning as isolated components, retrieving documents once and then generating answers without further interaction. This static design often limits performance on complex tasks that require iterative evidence gathering or high-precision retrieval. Recent work in both the information retrieval (IR) and NLP communities has begun to close this gap by introducing adaptive retrieval and ranking methods that incorporate feedback. In this survey, we present a structured overview of advanced retrieval and ranking mechanisms that integrate such feedback. We categorize feedback signals based on their source and role in improving the query, retrieved context, or document pool. By consolidating these developments, we aim to bridge IR and NLP perspectives and highlight retrieval as a dynamic, learnable component of end-to-end RAG systems.
Anthology ID:
2026.findings-eacl.298
Volume:
Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EACL 2026
Month:
March
Year:
2026
Address:
Rabat, Morocco
Editors:
Vera Demberg, Kentaro Inui, Lluís Marquez
Venue:
Findings
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
Note:
Pages:
5637–5656
Language:
URL:
https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-eacl.298/
DOI:
Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Mandeep Rathee, Venktesh V, Sean MacAvaney, and Avishek Anand. 2026. Test-time Corpus Feedback: From Retrieval to RAG. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: EACL 2026, pages 5637–5656, Rabat, Morocco. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
Test-time Corpus Feedback: From Retrieval to RAG (Rathee et al., Findings 2026)
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https://aclanthology.org/2026.findings-eacl.298.pdf
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