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What Ontologies Are

Ontologies are structured representations of the entities and relationships that exist in a domain. They provide shared meaning for data and enable consistent interpretation across systems, teams, and organizations.

Why organizations use ontologies​

Ontologies support:

  • Data integration across sources and formats
  • Consistent terminology and definitions
  • Interoperability across tools and stakeholders
  • Automated reasoning and quality checks
  • Long-term maintainability of semantic assets

Ontologies are not just documentation​

Unlike informal glossaries or diagrams, an ontology is designed to be used operationally—often as part of data pipelines, analytics, AI systems, or compliance workflows. Modeling choices made at the ontology level can affect downstream systems at scale.

NCOR’s role in the ontology community​

NCOR members have a long history of evaluating, improving, and stewarding ontologies across domains in research, government, and industry. This experience informs NCOR’s credentialing approach, which emphasizes independence, rigor, and documented evaluation.