CausalRAG: Integrating Causal Graphs into Retrieval-Augmented Generation

Nengbo Wang, Xiaotian Han, Jagdip Singh, Jing Ma, Vipin Chaudhary


Abstract
Large language models (LLMs) have revolutionized natural language processing (NLP), particularly through Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), which enhances LLM capabilities by integrating external knowledge. However, traditional RAG systems face critical limitations, including disrupted contextual integrity due to text chunking, and over-reliance on semantic similarity for retrieval. To address these issues, we propose CausalRAG, a novel framework that incorporates causal graphs into the retrieval process. By constructing and tracing causal relationships, CausalRAG preserves contextual continuity and improves retrieval precision, leading to more accurate and interpretable responses. We evaluate CausalRAG against regular RAG and graph-based RAG approaches, demonstrating its superiority across multiple metrics. Our findings suggest that grounding retrieval in causal reasoning provides a promising approach to knowledge-intensive tasks.
Anthology ID:
2025.findings-acl.1165
Volume:
Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025
Month:
July
Year:
2025
Address:
Vienna, Austria
Editors:
Wanxiang Che, Joyce Nabende, Ekaterina Shutova, Mohammad Taher Pilehvar
Venue:
Findings
SIG:
Publisher:
Association for Computational Linguistics
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Pages:
22680–22693
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URL:
https://preview.aclanthology.org/display_plenaries/2025.findings-acl.1165/
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Bibkey:
Cite (ACL):
Nengbo Wang, Xiaotian Han, Jagdip Singh, Jing Ma, and Vipin Chaudhary. 2025. CausalRAG: Integrating Causal Graphs into Retrieval-Augmented Generation. In Findings of the Association for Computational Linguistics: ACL 2025, pages 22680–22693, Vienna, Austria. Association for Computational Linguistics.
Cite (Informal):
CausalRAG: Integrating Causal Graphs into Retrieval-Augmented Generation (Wang et al., Findings 2025)
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https://preview.aclanthology.org/display_plenaries/2025.findings-acl.1165.pdf