This repository maintains the Sustainability Core Ontology (SCO). SCO is a middle-level ontology, covering the terminology related to the three major theoretical challenges of sustainability Ubbiali et al. (2024):
- The polysemy of the term sustainability.
- The relationship between sustainability and sustainable development.
- The complexity underlying sustainability.
SCO is designed to be the pivotal resource upon which to harmonize and integrate top-level and domain ontologies regarding sustainability. The ultimate goal is to establish a family of interoperable sustainability ontologies. Currently, SCO employs Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) as the upper-level ontology. SCO envisions also aligning with other top-level ontologies in the near future.
Currently, this repository hosts the SCO Structured Vocabulary (SCO SV) and the first version of SCO, SCO V1.0.0.
The SCO SV is an initial (non-exhaustive) ontological resource providing some essential terms and relations to include in SCO. This resource has been developed as Annex 2 of Ubbiali et al. (2024).
The SCO SV includes two spreadsheets:
The SV guidelines spreadsheet details the methodology followed for constructing the list.
SCO structured vocabulary spreadsheets are available in both Excel and CSV formats. The SCO SV spreadsheet also contains the graphical representation (named Supplementary Fig. S1 The structured vocabulary of SCO) of SCO SV in JPG format.
SCO V1.0.0 is the first stable version and the current release of SCO. SCO V1.0.0 extends and deepens the SCO SV. It is formalized in Web Ontology Language (OWL) and covers three natural languages, English, French, and Italian. SCO encompasses 80 classes, 84 object properties, 65 annotation properties, and 2 individuals. SCO V1.0.0 conforms to OBO-Foundry principles.
SCO materials, including a protocol detailing the process followed to develop this ontology, can be found here:
- SCO materials-total.
- SCO V1.0.0 current release.
- SCO V1.0.0 final draft version prior to release.
- SCO V1.0.0 imports from other ontologies.
- SCO development protocol.
SCO V1.0.0 is rendered in OWL/XML, RDF/XML, and Terse RDF Triple Language. The SCO protocol is available in both Word and PDF formats. SCO materials have been organized considering a possible future migration of this repo to the Ontology Development Kit (ODK).
The most recent version of SCO can be always found here. SCO is also accessible on AgroPortal, BioPortal, and IndustryPortal.
Giorgio A. Ubbiali - [email protected]
Ubbiali, G. A., Borghini, A., & Lange, M. C. (2024). Ontologies for Sustainability: Theoretical Challenges. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/z8uqr
This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0