The Evaluation of Ontologies for Quality, Suitability for Reuse, and the Significant Role of Social Factors

Abstract

A frequent challenge faced by ontologists and knowledge engineers is the choice of the correct or most appropriate ontology for reuse. Despite the importance of ontology evaluation and selection and the widespread research on these topics, there are still many unanswered questions and challenges. Most of the evaluation metrics and frameworks in the literature are mainly based on a limited set of internal characteristics of ontologies, e.g., their content and structure, which ignore how the community uses and evaluates them. This paper used a survey questionnaire to investigate the notion of quality and reusability in ontology engineering, and to explore and identify the set of metrics that can affect the process of ontology evaluation and selection for reuse. Responses from 157 ontologists and knowledge engineers were collected, and their analysis suggests that the process of ontology evaluation and selection for reuse, not only depends on different internal characteristics of ontologies, but that it also depends on different metadata, and social and community related metrics. Findings of this research can contribute to facilitating and improving the process of selecting an ontology for reuse.