Creating an ignorance-base: Exploring known unknowns in the scientific literature.

Area of Science:

• Biomedical research
• Scientific discovery

Background:

• Scientific progress relies on identifying and addressing unknowns.
• Existing knowledge bases capture known information but lack a framework for known unknowns.
• Understanding and utilizing scientific ignorance is crucial for directing future research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a knowledge base for capturing and connecting scientific ignorance (known unknowns).
• To integrate this ignorance base with existing biomedical knowledge bases.
• To accelerate research in prenatal nutrition by identifying open questions and new exploration avenues.

Main Methods:

• Developed the first ignorance-base by combining classifiers to identify ignorance statements in scientific literature.
• Linked ignorance statements with biomedical concepts in the prenatal nutrition domain.
• Applied the ignorance-base to analyze literature on vitamin D and prenatal health.

Main Results:

• Identified three new research avenues (immune, respiratory, brain development) related to vitamin D and prenatal health by analyzing concepts enriched in ignorance statements.
• Discovered an emerging neuroscience topic (brain development) linked to vitamin D and preterm birth genes.
• Demonstrated the utility of the ignorance-base in uncovering hidden research opportunities.

Conclusions:

• The ignorance-base effectively contextualizes biomedical concepts with authors' stated knowledge gaps.
• This approach accelerates research by illuminating known unknowns and guiding future scientific inquiry.
• A collective understanding of scientific ignorance can significantly advance research endeavors.