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NFDIcore 2.0: A BFO-Compliant Ontology for Multi-Domain Research Infrastructures

Oleksandra Bruns, Tabea Tietz, Joerg Waitelonis, Etienne Posthumus, Harald Sack

TL;DR

NFDIcore 2.0 targets cross-domain interoperability for Germany's National Research Data Infrastructure by delivering a BFO-aligned mid-level ontology that unifies diverse research domains. The approach combines a foundational core with modular domain extensions (CTO, MWO, NFDI4DSO, NFDI4Memory) and SWRL-based shortcuts to balance expressivity and usability, enabling both detailed and lightweight representations. Evaluation across four consortia using 98 competency questions demonstrates the framework's flexibility for cross-domain querying and its capacity to map to established standards like schema.org and DCAT. The work advances interoperable metadata modeling for research infrastructures, highlights lessons learned from prior versions, and sets a path for iterative refinement and broader adoption across NFDI consortia.

Abstract

This paper presents NFDIcore 2.0, an ontology compliant with the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) designed to represent the diverse research communities of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) in Germany. NFDIcore ensures the interoperability across various research disciplines, thereby facilitating cross-domain research. Each domain's individual requirements are addressed through specific ontology modules. This paper discusses lessons learned during the ontology development and mapping process, supported by practical validation through use cases in diverse research domains. The originality of NFDIcore lies in its adherence to BFO, the use of SWRL rules for efficient knowledge discovery, and its modular, extensible design tailored to meet the needs of heterogeneous research domains.

NFDIcore 2.0: A BFO-Compliant Ontology for Multi-Domain Research Infrastructures

TL;DR

NFDIcore 2.0 targets cross-domain interoperability for Germany's National Research Data Infrastructure by delivering a BFO-aligned mid-level ontology that unifies diverse research domains. The approach combines a foundational core with modular domain extensions (CTO, MWO, NFDI4DSO, NFDI4Memory) and SWRL-based shortcuts to balance expressivity and usability, enabling both detailed and lightweight representations. Evaluation across four consortia using 98 competency questions demonstrates the framework's flexibility for cross-domain querying and its capacity to map to established standards like schema.org and DCAT. The work advances interoperable metadata modeling for research infrastructures, highlights lessons learned from prior versions, and sets a path for iterative refinement and broader adoption across NFDI consortia.

Abstract

This paper presents NFDIcore 2.0, an ontology compliant with the Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) designed to represent the diverse research communities of the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) in Germany. NFDIcore ensures the interoperability across various research disciplines, thereby facilitating cross-domain research. Each domain's individual requirements are addressed through specific ontology modules. This paper discusses lessons learned during the ontology development and mapping process, supported by practical validation through use cases in diverse research domains. The originality of NFDIcore lies in its adherence to BFO, the use of SWRL rules for efficient knowledge discovery, and its modular, extensible design tailored to meet the needs of heterogeneous research domains.
Paper Structure (9 sections, 6 figures)

This paper contains 9 sections, 6 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related Work
  3. The NFDIcore Ontology
  4. Lessons Learned
  5. Methodology and Design
  6. Usability and Shortcuts
  7. Modules of NFDIcore
  8. NFDIcore Evaluation
  9. Discussion and Conclusions

Figures (6)

  • Figure 1: Representing independent continuants and their context roles in NFDIcore
  • Figure 2: Information Content Entities in NFDIcore.
  • Figure 3: Example of representing resources and their relations in NFDIcore
  • Figure 4: Example of representing NFDIcore entities and their relations
  • Figure 5: A visualization of the layers and modules of NFDIcore.
  • ...and 1 more figures