Vallayil, ManjuNand, ParmaYan, Wei QiAllende-Cid, HéctorVamathevan, Thamilini2025-02-162025-02-162025-02-13Applied Sciences, ISSN: 2076-3417 (Online), MDPI AG, 15(4), 1970-1970. doi: 10.3390/app150419702076-3417http://hdl.handle.net/10292/18663This study introduces an explainable framework for Automated Fact Verification (AFV) systems, integrating a novel Context-Aware Retrieval and Explanation Generation (CARAG) methodology. CARAG enhances evidence retrieval by leveraging thematic embeddings derived from a Subset of Interest (SOI, a focused subset of the fact-verification dataset) to integrate local and global perspectives. The retrieval process combines these thematic embeddings with claim-specific vectors to refine evidence selection. Retrieved evidence is integrated into an explanation-generation pipeline employing a Large Language Model (LLM) in a zero-shot paradigm, ensuring alignment with topic-based thematic contexts. The SOI and its derived thematic embeddings, supported by a visualized SOI graph, provide transparency into the retrieval process and promote explainability in AI by outlining evidence-selection rationale. CARAG is evaluated using FactVer, a novel explanation-focused dataset curated to enhance AFV transparency. Comparative analysis with standard Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) demonstrates CARAG’s effectiveness in generating contextually aligned explanations, underscoring its potential to advance explainable AFV frameworks.© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Journal ArticleOpenAccess10.3390/app15041970