Ontology Specifications for Self-Publishing of Experiment

Work in Progress
*** Seeking input from everyone ***


Status of this document:
Authors:
    AJ Chen     

Contributors: (Add your name here after your contribution)
    Thanks to everyone involved in the W3C Semantic Web Health Care and Life Sciences Interest Group (HCLSIG). 

Purpose

To define an ontology for self-publishing of experiment as single unit and related information such as project, protocol, product, and researcher. The ontology is designed for self-publishing of experiments in RDF/XML. There are three specific goals:
(1) The terms are intended to be used by applications that should appeal to users across all scientific disciplines. This means a shallow ontology is more appropriate. Fine-grained terms can be added in future versions.
(2) Although it may be used for any number of applications, its primary focus at current stage is to enable more precise search of related information at single experiment level across the web. This is in contrast to searching a journal article, which is usually synthesized from many experiments.
(3) It should enable application developers to develop easy-to-use publishing tools for end users (researchers). User-friendly self-publishing tools are critical for adoption of the new publishing option. Users should be able to easily publish their experiment information without any knowledge of semantic web technology or ontology.

Development Process

(1) This specs is developed based on the requirements defined by the Scientific Publishing task force of HCLSIG.
(2) This specs should try to use as many terms as possible in existing ontologies including SKOS, DC, vCard, FOAF, BOON, FuGO, and Ebiquity ontologies. 
(3) Everyone are welcome to contribute.

Overview of Classes and Properties

spe:Experiment
dc:title
dc:type
dc:subject
spe:associatedProject
spe:hypothesis
spe:introduction
spe:procedure
spe:protocolUsed
spe:productUsed
spe:data
spe:dataLink
spe:result
spe:conclusion
spe:discussion
spe:mainConcept
spe:conductedBy
spe:PI
boon:startTime
boon:endTime
boon:status
dc:references
spe:publishedIn dc:isReferencedBy
boon:fundingSource
dc:description
dc:publisher
dc:license
dc:rights
boon:altwebpage
boon:createdBy
boon:createTime
boon:updatedBy
boon:updateTime
boon:webpage
spe:Project
dc:title
dc:type
dc:subject
spe:objectives
spe:design
spe:resources
boon:startTime
boon:endTime
boon:status
boon:owner
spe:projectLead
boon:currentMember
boon:pastMember
spe:hasPublication
dc:references
dc:isReferencedBy
boon:fundingSource
dc:license
dc:rights
boon:altwebpage
boon:createdBy
boon:createTime
boon:updatedBy
boon:updateTime
boon:webpage


spe:Protocol
dc:title
dc:type
dc:subject
dc:description spe:procedure
spe:productUsed
boon:author
dc:references
dc:isReferencedBy
dc:publisher
dc:rights
dc:license
boon:altwebpage
boon:createdBy
boon:createTime
boon:updatedBy
boon:updateTime
boon:webpage
spe:Publication
dc:title
dc:type
dc:subject
dc:abstract
spe:content
dc:source
boon:author
spe:firstAuthor
spe:correspondingAuthor
spe:citationSource
dc:references
dc:isReferencedBy
dc:issued
dc:publisher
dc:description
dc:license
dc:rights
boon:altwebpage
boon:createdBy
boon:createTime
boon:updatedBy
boon:updateTime
boon:webpage


Class Relationship

This version of SPE ontology is a shallow one with only a few classes representing the top level objects involved in conducting experiment and publishing experiment information.

The central class is Experiment, representing the information about a single experiment.  The content of an experiment is organized as hypothesis, procedure, data, result and conclusion, which are data properties of Experiment class and are not shown in the diagram. The same experiment also uses protocols (class Protocol) and additional tools (class boon:Product). It can be part of a publication (class Publication) and associated with a project (class Project). A project consists of a collection of experiments.

There are researchers (class boon:Person) who conduct the experiment.  A researcher may belong to a group (class boon:Group), which is part of an organization  (class boon:Organization). Researcher and groups can have projects and publications.

Research tools are used by the procedures of experiments and protocols.  Information on research tool are published by their manufacturers.  An established experiment procedure is usually written as a protocol for sharing. 

A research publication traditionally is a composite of many experiments. But, a broader view taken by this specs considers any information published on the web as a form of publication, including experiment, protocol and product information self-published by researchers and tool providers as semantic data. This type of semantic publication has one clear difference from the traditional publication, that is, it uses one semantic object to represent not only the contents but also the so-called metadata.

Because the relationships between the objects used in self-publishing are semantically represented, it will empower discovery of related information and sharing of data.

class relationship

Fig. 1  Class relationship of SPE ontology.


Classes


Class
spe:Experiment
Description
A single experiment, usually done by a defined procedure, including but not limited to scientific experiments. A specific type of self-publication.  An experiment may start from a hypothesis and if so, the conclusion should articulate results in relation to the hypothesis, e.g. rejection, supported, etc.  This allows a search engine to discover what has happened to what hypothesis. Some main concepts like proteins or genes can be identified by URI in a list so that one can unambiguously search all the works that have been done related to any specific concept.  It should uniquely identify the protocols, additional tools, and references, which serve as important links for effective discovery of related information. In current version, the experiment contents are divided into several smaller parts, which are represented by string or literal. It enables field-based text search and provide specific search contexts for search engine.  In future version, the contents may be represented by object properties if it facilitates data sharing.
Properties (and quick comments)
dc:title  (experiment name)
dc:type  (type of experiment)
dc:subject  (related disciplines like biology, medicine, chemistry, computer, software, etc. using keywords or key phrases, may be chosen from controlled vocabularies)
spe:associatedProject  (project composed of the experiment)
spe:introduction
spe:hypothesis  (hypothesis for the experiment if any)
spe:procedure  (specific to this experiment, may use protocols for some of the steps)
spe:protocolUsed  (protocols used in the procedure, by URIs)
spe:productUsed   (list critical tools that are used in the procedure but not covered in any protocol used, by URI)
spe:data 
spe:dataLink  (URI to additional data source that can't be represented here)
spe:result  (result of the experiment)
spe:conclusion  (articulate if the hypothesis is supported or rejected)
spe:discussion
spe:mainConcept  (URI to some main concepts, uniquely identified by URI )
spe:conductedBy  (who conducts the experiment, by URI)
spe:PI   (principle investigator for the experiment, by URI)
boon:startTime  (experiment start time )
boon:endTime  (experiment end time)
boon:status  (an experiment may be published while it's still in progress)
spe:publishedIn  (publications using the experiment's data and results, by URI)
dc:references  (URIs to publications this experiment refers to, by URI)
dc:isReferencedBy  (may list the publications that make reference to this experiment, by URI)
boon:fundingSource
dc:description
dc:publisher
dc:license
dc:rights
boon:createdBy  (someone who publishes the experiment, not necessarily the experimenter)
boon:createTime
boon:updatedBy
boon :updateTime
boon:altwebpage  (related or alternative web page, URL)
boon:webpage (a web presentation of the same data, URL)
Superclass


Class
spe:Protocol
Description
An established procedure for doing an experiment or part of an experiment.  A specific type of self-publication.
Properties (and quick comments) dc:title  (protocol title)
dc:type
dc:subject (research areas where the protocol can be used for)
dc:description
spe:procedure  (detailed steps of the procedure)
spe:productUsed  (URI to tools used)
boon:author
dc:references
dc:isReferencedBy
dc:publisher
dc:rights
dc:license
boon:createdBy
boon:createTime
boon:updatedBy
boon:updateTime
boon:altwebpage  (related or alternative web page, URL)
boon:webpage (a web presentation of the same data, URL)
Superclass



Class
spe:Project
Description
Usually a large undertaking that requires a series of experiments. Can be used to organize experiments. A specific type of self-publication.
Properties (and quick comments) dc:title (project name)
dc:type
dc:subject  (related disciplines like biology, medicine, chemistry, computer, software, etc.)
spe:objectives  (project objectives, goals)
spe:design
spe:resources  (related and useful resources)
boon:startTime
boon:endTime
boon:status  (past, current, active, inactive, in progress, etc.)
boon:owner  (owner of the project, may be a PI, a group, or an organization)
spe:projectLead  (project lead, manager, etc.)
boon:currentMember
boon:pastMember
spe:hasPublication
dc:references
dc:isReferencedBy
boon:fundingSource  (funding sources, by URI)
dc:license
dc:rights
boon:createdBy
boon:createTime
boon:updatedBy
boon:updateTime
boon:altwebpage  (related or alternative web page, URL)
boon:webpage (a web presentation of the same data, URL)
Superclass

Class
spe:Publication
Description
Any publication including research paper, industry article, report, etc. A semantic publication represents both contents and metadata in one place.  This data object can be used to self-publish any information online.  Three specific types of self-publications are defined in this ontology, i.e. Experiment, Protocol, Project.  Publication object also can be used to wrap a traditional publication (e.g. journal article) and provide an URI for it.
Properties (and quick comments) dc:title
dc:type  (publication type like self-published, peer-reviewed, open-standard, etc.)
dc:subject  (related disciplines, keywords)
dc:abstract
spe:content   (full text content if available, enabling full-text search by search engine))
dc:source   (URL to full text content source if available)
boon:author
spe:firstAuthor
spe:correspondingAuthor
spe:citationSource (the source part of citation, i.e. journal/volume/number/pages)
dc:issued  (publishing date)
dc:publisher
dc:references
dc:isReferencedBy
dc:description
dc:license
dc:rights
boon:createdBy
boon:createTime
boon:updatedBy
boon:updateTime
boon:altwebpage  (related or alternative web page, URL)
boon:webpage (a web presentation of the same data, URL)
Superclass


Object Properties


ObjectProperty spe:associatedProject
Description A Project that an experiment is associated with.
Domain spe:Experiment
Range spe:Project

ObjectProperty spe:conductedBy
Description A person who conducted the experiment.
Domain spe:Experiment
Range boon:Person

ObjectProperty spe:correspondingAuthor
Description Publication's corresponding author
Domain spe:Publication
Range boon:Person

ObjectProperty spe:firstAuthor
Description Publication's first author
Domain spe:Publication
Range boon:Person

ObjectProperty spe:hasPublication
Description A publication own by a resource
Domain spe:Project
Range spe:Publication

ObjectProperty spe:PI
Description Principle investigator responsible for an experiment, a project or a group.
Domain spe:Project
Range boon:Person

ObjectProperty spe:productUsed
Description Materials or tools used by an experiment procedure or protocol, including reagents, instruments, software.  Product providers can define their product as semantic resources, which are available for researcher to use in semantic publishing.
Domain spe:Protocol, spe:Experiment
Range boon:Product

ObjectProperty spe:projectLead
Description A person who leads the project
Domain spe:Project
Range boon:Person

ObjectProperty spe:protocolUsed
Description A protocol used by an experiment.
Domain spe:Experiment
Range spe:Protocol

ObjectProperty spe:publishedIn
Description A publication using the experiment data and result
Domain spe:Experiment
Range spe:Publication

Datatype Properties


DatatypeProperty spe:citationSource
Description The source part of a citation, including journal, volume, number and pages for an article, or book title and chapter for book chapter, etc.
Domain spe:Publication
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:conclusion
Description Conclusion drawn from an experiment. If a hypothesis is proposed, conclusion should be made in relation to the hypothesis, such as rejection, supporting, verification, proven, etc.
Domain spe:Experiment
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:content
Description content of a publication
Domain spe:Publication
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:data
Description Data generated from an experiment. In current version, data are expressed as strings or literal. Future version will figure out how to represent more complex data types like graph, image and table.
Domain spe:Experiment
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:dataLink
Description A pointer to additional data that are generated from an experiment but can't be expressed in the experiment's  semantic resource.
Domain spe:Experiment
Range xsd:anyURI

DatatypeProperty spe:design
Description Project design
Domain spe:Project
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:discussion
Description Further discussions about an experiment, its data and results.
Domain spe:Experiment
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:hypothesis
Description Experiment hypothesis if any. Fine-grained properties of hypothesis will be defined in future version.
Domain spe:Experiment
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:introduction
Description Experiment introduction
Domain spe:Experiment
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:mainConcept
Description A main concept associated with an experiment, such as a protein or gene being studied.
Domain spe:Experiment
Range xsd:anyURI

DatatypeProperty spe:objectives
Description Objectives of a project
Domain spe:Project
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:procedure
Description A procedure for doing an experiment, usually having multiple steps. May use protocols for some of the steps.
Domain spe:Experiment, spe:Protocol
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:resources
Description Related and useful resources
Domain spe:Project
Range xsd:string

DatatypeProperty spe:result
Description Results and conclusions drawn from an experiment
Domain spe:Experiment
Range xsd:string

Relevant Ontologies and Vocabularies


RDF/XML
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-syntax-grammar/

RDFS
http://www.w3.org/TR/rdf-schema/

OWL
http://www.w3.org/TR/owl-ref/

XML
http://www.w3.org/TR/xmlschema-1/
http://www.w3.org/TR/2001/REC-xmlschema-2-20010502/

DC
http://dublincore.org/documents/dcmi-terms/
http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/
http://purl.org/dc/terms/

FOAF ontology: 
http://xmlns.com/foaf/0.1/

vCard:
xmlns:vCard = "http://www.w3.org/2001/vcard-rdf/3.0#"
http://www.w3.org/TR/vcard-rdf

SUMO
http://ontology.teknowledge.com/

SKOS Core Vocabulary
http://www.w3.org/TR/swbp-skos-core-spec/

BOON
http://www.web2express.org

Ebiquity ontologies including project, publication, person, and contact
http://ebiquity.umbc.edu/ontology/

DOAP
http://usefulinc.com/doap

FuGO
http://fugo.sourceforge.net/ontologyInfo/ontology.php

BOSS
http://www.charlestoncore.org/ont/boss.html

EXPO
http://sourceforge.net/projects/expo