Characterizing Semantic Ambiguity of the Materials Science Ontologies

Growth in computational materials science and initiatives such as the Materials Genome Initiative (MGI) and the European Materials Modelling Council (EMMC) has motivated the development and application of ontologies. A key factor has been increased adoption of the FAIR principles, making research data findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (Wilkinson et al. 2016). This paper characterizes semantic interoperability among a subset of materials science ontologies in the MatPortal repository. Background context covers semantic interoperability, ontological commitment, and the materials science ontology landscape. The research focused on MatPortal's two interoperability protocols: LOOM term matching and URI matching. Results report the degree of overlap and demonstrate the different types of ambiguity among ontologies. The discussion considers implications for FAIR and AI, and the conclusion highlight key findings and next steps.