1. An improved method which operates in a computer system comprising a central server and one or more remote servers and which performs distributed query processing, the method comprising: receiving at the central server a search request specifying one or more terms for retrieving documents; at each remote server where documents have been indexed, generating local Bayes calculation data for each term on that server; at the central server, generating global Bayes calculation data by combining the local Bayes calculation data from each remote server, and allowing the remote servers to accurately score and rank documents as if they were all located on one server on a per query basis; sending the global Bayes calculation data to each remote server as part of the distributed query processing; at each remote server, producing a list of matching documents sorted by relevance ranking by performing a local Bayesian query calculation based at least in part on said global Bayes calculation data; and at the central server, generating a final list of most relevant documents by merging the lists of matching relevant documents from each remote server, each document having an accurate score calculated from the local calculation data and global Bayesian statistics on a per query basis.