Thesauri: Facilitators of Ontologies Construction and Development

Document Type : Review Paper

Authors

1 Independent researcher

2 . Information Science Research Department, Faculty of Management, Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this research is to conduct an analysis of qualitative and quantitative studies on applying thesauri to the construction and development of ontologies and the identification of subject domains. We will investigate the approaches and methods used in these studies.
Method: This descriptive-analytical research was conducted following the seven stages of systematic review suggested by Petticrew and Roberts (2008). Data analysis and visualization were facilitated using the DatawRapper software.
Results: The analysis of studies in the area of applying thesauri in the construction and development of ontologies, while identifying and presenting the subject trends of studies, frequency, methods, languages and approaches, showed that the studies in this area include six main topics as follows: applying thesauri in the construction and development of ontologies in connection with multilingual information retrieval, applying thesauri in the construction and development of ontologies to cover a specific subject domain, applying the ISO 25964 standard in the development of ontologies using thesauri, presenting the framework, methods and tools for the use of thesauri in construction and development of ontologies, improving semantic relations and concept mapping using thesauri in the construction and development of ontologies and review studies of thesauri conversion to ontologies. 
Conclusions: Various subject domains, across different time periods, have benefited from applying thesauri for the construction and development of ontologies. Thesauri, as semantic tools, have provided the context for organizing, retrieving and accessing information more accurately and easily for stakeholders and applicants across various domains. Despite these advancements, the lack of a standardized and consensual framework, coupled with the need to update methods, approaches, and tools due to the reliance on natural language processing (NLP) technologies and knowledge engineering, has necessitated further research to mature this field.

Keywords

References

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Academic Librarianship and Information Research
Volume 58, Issue 1
March 2024
Pages 27-46

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