A semantic approach to mapping the Provenance Ontology to Basic Formal Ontology

Tim Prudhomme; Giacomo De Colle; Austin Liebers; Alec Sculley; Peihong “Karl” Xie; Sydney Cohen; John Beverley

doi:10.1038/s41597-025-04580-1

A semantic approach to mapping the Provenance Ontology to Basic Formal Ontology

Tim Prudhomme
, Giacomo De Colle
, Austin Liebers
, Alec Sculley
, Peihong “Karl” Xie
, Sydney Cohen
, John Beverley

Philosophy

National Center for Ontological Research
Conceptual Systems
SUNY Buffalo
Summit Knowledge Solutions
University of Vienna

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Provenance Ontology (PROV-O) is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommended ontology used to structure data about provenance across a wide variety of domains. Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) is a top-level ontology ISO/IEC standard used to structure a wide variety of ontologies, such as the OBO Foundry ontologies and the Common Core Ontologies (CCO). To enhance interoperability between these two ontologies, their extensions, and data organized by them, a mapping methodology and set of alignments are presented according to specific criteria which prioritize semantic and logical principles. The ontology alignments are evaluated by checking their logical consistency with canonical examples of PROV-O instances and querying terms that do not satisfy the alignment criteria as formalized in SPARQL. A variety of semantic web technologies are used in support of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles.

Original language	English
Article number	282
Journal	Scientific Data
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-04580-1
State	Published - Dec 2025

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abstract = "The Provenance Ontology (PROV-O) is a World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommended ontology used to structure data about provenance across a wide variety of domains. Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) is a top-level ontology ISO/IEC standard used to structure a wide variety of ontologies, such as the OBO Foundry ontologies and the Common Core Ontologies (CCO). To enhance interoperability between these two ontologies, their extensions, and data organized by them, a mapping methodology and set of alignments are presented according to specific criteria which prioritize semantic and logical principles. The ontology alignments are evaluated by checking their logical consistency with canonical examples of PROV-O instances and querying terms that do not satisfy the alignment criteria as formalized in SPARQL. A variety of semantic web technologies are used in support of FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles.",

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AU - Cohen, Sydney

AU - Beverley, John

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A semantic approach to mapping the Provenance Ontology to Basic Formal Ontology

Abstract

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