Ontology Design Guide

A skill for designing ontologies and knowledge graphs to model research domain knowledge. Covers ontology engineering methodologies, OWL and RDF basics, reusing existing ontologies, and practical tools for building, validating, and querying knowledge graphs.

What Is an Ontology?

Definitions and Purpose

An ontology is a formal, explicit specification of a shared
conceptualization. In practical terms, it defines:

  - Classes: Categories of things (e.g., Gene, Disease, Drug)
  - Properties: Relationships between things (e.g., causes, treats)
  - Individuals: Specific instances (e.g., TP53, Breast Cancer)
  - Axioms: Rules and constraints (e.g., every Drug has exactly
    one molecular formula)