We consider the query allocation problem in open and large distributed information systems. Provider sources are heterogeneous, autonomous, and have finite capacity to perform queries. A main objective in query allocation is to obtain good response time. Most of the work towards this objective has dealt with finding the most efficient providers. But little attention has been paid to satisfy the providers interest in performing certain queries. In this paper, we address both sides of the problem. We propose a query allocation approach which allows providers to express their intention to perform queries based on their preference and satisfaction. We compare our approach to both query load balancing and economic approaches. The experimentation results show that our approach yields high efficiency while supporting the providers' preferences in adequacy with the query load. Also, we show that our approach guarantees interesting queries to providers even under low arrival query rates. In the context of open distributed systems, our approach outperforms traditional query load balancing approaches as it encourages providers to stay in the system, thus preserving the full system capacity.
