01 / PROJECT

Expansor
de Buscas.

AI-assisted multilingual query expansion for scientific information retrieval.

RESEARCH PROTOTYPEOPEN SCIENCEINFORMATION RETRIEVAL
02 / The problem

Finding scientific literature is not only a matter of knowing what to search.

Scientific literature is distributed across languages, disciplines and different terminologies. A researcher may know the concept they are looking for without knowing all the terms used to describe that concept in scientific databases.

This becomes particularly important when constructing search strategies for systematic reviews and literature reviews, where broad and reproducible queries are essential.

03 / The idea

Expand the query,
not just the keywords.

The Expansor combines controlled vocabularies with generative AI to identify translations, synonyms and related terms that can enrich a research query.

04 / Workflow
01

Original query

O pesquisador fornece um ou mais termos para sua estratégia de busca.

02

Controlled vocabularies

A ferramenta consulta tesauros especializados para encontrar traduções e termos relacionados.

03

AI expansion

Opcionalmente, um modelo de linguagem sugere sinônimos e termos relacionados que não estão presentes nos tesauros.

04

Expanded query

Os termos encontrados são organizados para produzir uma estratégia de busca mais abrangente.

05 / Architecture

Research query
↓
Query analysis
↓
Controlled
vocabularies
Generative
AI
↓
Expanded query
↓
Scientific information retrieval
06 / Knowledge sources

Controlled vocabularies provide the semantic foundation.

The system can work with different domain-oriented thesauri, allowing the expansion process to be adapted to the research area.

MeSH / DeCSAGROVOCUNESCONASAMultidisciplinary
07 / Artificial intelligence

AI adds flexibility beyond controlled terminology.

When enabled, the system can use a language model to suggest synonyms and related terms that may not be present in the selected thesaurus.

This creates a hybrid approach: structured terminology provides semantic grounding, while generative AI provides additional linguistic variation.

08 / Why it matters

More comprehensive
search strategies.

Multilingual

Helps researchers move beyond the terminology of a single language.

Semantic

Uses relationships and terminology from specialized knowledge organization systems.

Reproducible

Designed to support the construction of explicit and documented search strategies.

09 / Technology

Tools behind the prototype.

LLMsOpenAI APIThesauriDeCSMeSHAGROVOCUNESCONASAMultilingual Search

10 / Research connection

From prototype
to research.

The Expansor is part of a broader investigation into the use of artificial intelligence, semantic technologies and knowledge organization for scientific information discovery.

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