Data model

The SKG-IF Data Model is the metadata model used for the data compliant with the SKG-IF Interoperability Framework.

The SKG-IF Data Model is used to model all the SKG-IF main entities, their attributes and their relations to other entities. All these aspects are implemented using the ‘language’ of the Semantic Web, in particular by re-employing several existing ontological models developed to address specific modelling scenarios compatible with the aims of SKG-IF.

The SKG-IF Data Model, summarised in convenient Graffoo diagrams, allows one to record information about the following SKG-IF entities:

Agent, that represents an individual (e.g., a person, an organisation, or another kind of entity being able to act) who is involved in the creation, publication, dissemination, etc. of a research product.
Data source, a service or platform where a research product (its metadata and files) is stored, preserved, and made discoverable and accessible.
Grant, that describes funding awarded to an agent by a funding body.
Research product, that may be of four types - research literature, research data, research software, or other.
Topic, that describes the scientific disciplines, subjects and keywords potentially relevant for a research product.
Venue, an entity that models a publishing “gateway” used by an agent to make their research products available to others.

The SKG-IF Data Model has been also implemented as an OWL ontology, i.e., the SKG-IF Ontology (SKG-O). It is not yet another bibliographic ontology, but rather a place where existing and complementary ontological entities from several other ontologies, all employed in SKG-IF, are grouped together for the purpose of providing descriptive metadata compliant with the SKG-IF Data Model. The ontology is composed of six different ontological modules, formally imported in it, one for each type of SKG-IF entity - SKG-O: agent, SKG-O: data-source, SKG-O: grant, SKG-O: research-product, SKG-O: topic, SKG-O: venue.

The SKG-IF data created following the Interoperability Framework are aligned with the SKG-IF Ontology via the SKG-IF JSON-LD context. In addition, a specific SHACL document has been developed for semantically validating the data provided according to the data model.