Preliminary Analysis of the OBO Foundry Ontologies and Their Evolution Using OQuaRE

Area of Science:

• Biomedical informatics
• Ontology engineering
• Knowledge representation

Background:

• The biomedical field utilizes numerous ontologies, which undergo rapid evolution with frequent new versions.
• Managing and analyzing these evolving biomedical ontologies presents a significant challenge for developers.
• There is a need for robust methods to support ontology developers in tracking and understanding ontology evolution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the quality and evolution of OBO Foundry member ontologies using a quantitative framework.
• To assess adherence of OBO Foundry ontologies to established principles.
• To determine if ontology evolution leads to improvements in quality scores.

Main Methods:

• Application of the Ontology Quality and REquirements (OQuaRE) evaluation framework.
• Quantitative analysis of 408 versions from eight OBO Foundry member ontologies.
• Assessment of adherence to OBO Foundry principles, including naming conventions.

Main Results:

• The analyzed OBO Foundry ontologies demonstrate adherence to core principles, such as consistent naming conventions.
• Evolutionary changes in these ontologies correlate with an increase in their OQuaRE quality scores.
• The OQuaRE framework successfully provided normalized scores for comparative analysis.

Conclusions:

• OBO Foundry ontologies generally follow established development principles.
• The ongoing evolution of OBO Foundry ontologies appears to enhance their overall quality as measured by OQuaRE.
• Quantitative evaluation frameworks like OQuaRE are valuable tools for monitoring and guiding ontology development.