HistoRAG

HistoRAG: A RAG framework embedding historiographical methodology for historical research

Researchers introduce HistoRAG, a Retrieval-Augmented Generation framework that adapts RAG architecture to the epistemological requirements of historical scholarship. Key interventions include separated retrieval and generation, temporal windowing to ensure balanced source representation across time periods, and LLM-as-judge evaluation for transparent relevance judgments. The framework is evaluated on SPIEGELragged, a corpus of 102,189 Der Spiegel articles from 1950–1979, revealing concrete deficiencies in standard RAG for historical work (e.g., era-specific vocabulary failures, weak correlation between vector similarity and LLM-assessed relevance). The paper also introduces the concept of 'Zwischentexte' as a framework for responsible integration of LLM-generated text into scholarly practice.