ECO: the Evidence and Conclusion Ontology, an update for 2022

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Informatics
• Ontology Development
• Data Science

Background:

• The Evidence and Conclusion Ontology (ECO) is a vital community resource for standardizing evidence terms in biomedical annotations and assertions.
• Consistent use of ECO facilitates tracking of annotation provenance, quality control, and evidence-based data mining.
• ECO is widely adopted by numerous data repositories and resources across diverse biomedical domains.

Purpose of the Study:

• To report recent updates and enhancements to the ECO ontology.
• To highlight associated resources available through the ECO project.
• To emphasize the ongoing expansion and refinement of ECO based on user feedback and best practices.

Main Methods:

• Continuous development and expansion of the ECO ontology based on community input and ontology best practices.
• Collaboration with other ontologies and annotating groups to ensure interoperability and consistency.
• Regular updates and releases of the ECO ontology and associated resources.

Main Results:

• Recent updates to the ECO ontology have been implemented, enhancing its scope and utility.
• Associated resources have been developed and are available to support ECO implementation.
• ECO continues to be expanded and improved through active community engagement and collaborations.

Conclusions:

• The Evidence and Conclusion Ontology (ECO) provides a standardized framework for evidence in biomedical data.
• Ongoing development and community collaboration ensure ECO remains a robust and evolving resource.
• ECO products are freely available, promoting widespread adoption and advancing biomedical data analysis.