Ontology · confref

The source of this page is the repository confref-ontology. The ontology is also the dataset confref-ontology; the namespace https://id.confref.org/ontology/ gives this page to a browser and the Turtle file to a linked data client.

Namespace: https://id.confref.org/ontology/ (prefix cr:). The Turtle file confref-ontology.ttl is generated from the code blocks of this document.

Status: published 2026-11-09 as the dataset confref-ontology (one version per change, on archive.confref.org and in the SPARQL endpoint of labs.confref.org); terms can still be added and changed.

Terms

Describing terms: cr:label · cr:comment
Series and events: cr:Series · cr:Event · cr:inSeries · cr:heldAt · cr:jointWith · cr:colocatedWith
Facts of an event: cr:edition · cr:Edition · cr:hasEdition · cr:editionOf · cr:editionNumber · cr:eventType · schema:eventStatus · schema:eventAttendanceMode · schema:superEvent · skos:closeMatch
Places, dates, websites, proceedings: schema:location · schema:startDate · cr:year · schema:endDate · schema:url · cr:proceedings
Academic fields and disciplines: cr:field · cr:discipline
Ratings: cr:Rating · cr:ratingOf · cr:ratingSystem · cr:ratingValue · dcterms:date
Identity and history: cr:sameAs · cr:mergedInto · cr:mergeDate · cr:splitInto · cr:splitDate · cr:retiredDate · owl:sameAs
Statistics of datasets: cr:currentSubjects

What this document describes

The common layer of the confref data: the classes and properties used by the identifier set ids (the series and events behind the landing pages) and by our linksets, our own and those of other vocabularies. The model is described in confref-data decision 0013.

Own terms are defined with rdfs:label and rdfs:comment. Terms of other vocabularies are described only with cr:label and cr:comment; their definitions stay with their vocabularies. Our own terms are added only where no term of another vocabulary fits.

The vocabularies of single sources are documented by the sources or by the vocabulary files of their datasets (dblp: the dblp ontology; Wikidata: direct properties wdt:; GND: the GND Ontology; ConfIDent: the file confident-vocabulary.ttl.gz of the dataset confident; the Springer LOD ontology: the file springer-lod-ontology.ttl.gz of the dataset springer-lod).

Namespaces

@prefix rdf: <http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#> .
@prefix rdfs: <http://www.w3.org/2000/01/rdf-schema#> .
@prefix owl: <http://www.w3.org/2002/07/owl#> .
@prefix xsd: <http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#> .
@prefix dcterms: <http://purl.org/dc/terms/> .
@prefix schema: <http://schema.org/> .
@prefix skos: <http://www.w3.org/2004/02/skos/core#> .
@prefix obo: <http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/> .
@prefix cr: <https://id.confref.org/ontology/> .

<https://id.confref.org/ontology/>
    a owl:Ontology ;
    rdfs:label "confref ontology"@en ;
    dcterms:license <https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/> .

Describing terms

Interfaces take the label of a term from cr:label (for our own terms: rdfs:label), so that they show our label even when the original vocabulary is loaded as well.

cr:label

cr:label
    a owl:AnnotationProperty ;
    rdfs:label "label (confref)"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The label confref uses for a term in its interfaces."@en ;
    rdfs:subPropertyOf rdfs:label .

cr:comment

cr:comment
    a owl:AnnotationProperty ;
    rdfs:label "usage note (confref)"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "How confref uses a term."@en ;
    rdfs:subPropertyOf rdfs:comment .

Series and events

A series is a sequence of recurring events under one name: a conference, workshop or symposium series. An event is one meeting: a conference, workshop or symposium, a joint or federated event (confref-data decisions 0013, 0017).

The relations are many-to-many:

cr:inSeries: the series of an event. A joint conference that is branded and run as one event belongs to the series of each partner.
cr:heldAt: the larger event an event is part of or hosted by: a workshop at its main conference, the partner conferences of a joint conference that presents as a collection, a conference at a federated event. The series of an event is independent of the series of its host.
cr:jointWith, cr:colocatedWith: separate events held together (joint organisation or programme), or at the same place and time with programmes of their own. Both are symmetric.

The sources record joint conferences in each of these ways, and confref keeps the way of the source. The same joint conference can appear as one event in two series and as two events joint with each other; the links show how they are connected.

schema.org and AEON define a series as a kind of event. confref keeps the two levels apart, so its classes are its own, with schema.org’s as superclasses. The terms of AEON (the Academic Event Ontology, http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/AEON_…, also used by ConfIDent) are recorded as close matches.

cr:Series

cr:Series
    a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "series"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "A sequence of recurring academic events under one name (conference, workshop or symposium series), identified by https://id.confref.org/series/<id>."@en ;
    rdfs:subClassOf schema:EventSeries ;
    skos:closeMatch obo:AEON_0000002 .

cr:Event

cr:Event
    a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "event"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "One academic meeting (conference, workshop, symposium, joint or federated event) at one time, in one place or online, identified by https://id.confref.org/event/<id>. Not a series, not a proceedings volume."@en ;
    rdfs:subClassOf schema:Event ;
    owl:disjointWith cr:Series ;
    skos:closeMatch obo:AEON_0000001 .

cr:inSeries

cr:inSeries
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "in series"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The series an event belongs to. An event can belong to several series: a joint conference that is branded and run as one event belongs to the series of each partner."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Event ;
    rdfs:range cr:Series ;
    rdfs:subPropertyOf schema:superEvent ;
    skos:closeMatch obo:AEON_0000084 .

cr:heldAt

cr:heldAt
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "held at"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The larger event an event is part of or hosted by: a workshop at its main conference, a partner conference of a joint conference that presents as a collection of conferences, a conference at a federated event. The series of an event is independent of the series of its host."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Event ;
    rdfs:range cr:Event ;
    rdfs:subPropertyOf schema:superEvent ;
    skos:closeMatch obo:AEON_0000178 .

cr:jointWith

cr:jointWith
    a owl:ObjectProperty, owl:SymmetricProperty ;
    rdfs:label "joint with"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "Separate events that are held together, with joint organisation or a joint programme (as a source states it; a joint conference that is one event is one event in several series instead)."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Event ;
    rdfs:range cr:Event ;
    skos:closeMatch obo:AEON_0000083 .

cr:colocatedWith

cr:colocatedWith
    a owl:ObjectProperty, owl:SymmetricProperty ;
    rdfs:label "co-located with"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "Separate events at the same place and time, each with a programme of its own."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Event ;
    rdfs:range cr:Event ;
    skos:closeMatch obo:AEON_0000082 .

Facts of an event

The edition number, the status, the attendance mode and the type of an event (confref-data decision 0016). The edition number is per series: cr:edition when the event belongs to one series, otherwise one cr:Edition per series.

<https://id.confref.org/event/e10a0bm>
    cr:inSeries <https://id.confref.org/series/s10000y>, <https://id.confref.org/series/s1000b8> ;
    cr:hasEdition <https://id.confref.org/event/e10a0bm/edition/s10000y>,
                  <https://id.confref.org/event/e10a0bm/edition/s1000b8> .

<https://id.confref.org/event/e10a0bm/edition/s10000y>
    a cr:Edition ;
    cr:editionOf <https://id.confref.org/series/s10000y> ;
    cr:editionNumber 29 .

cr:edition

cr:edition
    a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:label "edition"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The edition number of an event in its series, when it belongs to one series. An event in several series has a cr:Edition per series instead."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Event ;
    rdfs:range xsd:integer ;
    skos:closeMatch obo:AEON_0000140 .

cr:Edition

cr:Edition
    a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "edition"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The place of an event in one of its series: the series (cr:editionOf) and the edition number (cr:editionNumber)."@en .

cr:hasEdition

cr:hasEdition
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "has edition"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "An edition of an event in one of its series."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Event ;
    rdfs:range cr:Edition .

cr:editionOf

cr:editionOf
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "edition of"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The series of an edition."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Edition ;
    rdfs:range cr:Series .

cr:editionNumber

cr:editionNumber
    a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:label "edition number"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The number of an edition in its series."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Edition ;
    rdfs:range xsd:integer .

cr:eventType

cr:eventType
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "event type"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The type of an event, as a class of AEON: academic conference (AEON_0000103), workshop (AEON_0000121), symposium (AEON_0000113), congress (AEON_0000123), colloquium (AEON_0000101), forum (AEON_0000105), seminar (AEON_0000109), tutorial (AEON_0000119), hackathon (AEON_0000107). The types used by ConfIDent and DataCite. A series has no type of its own."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Event .

schema:eventStatus

schema:eventStatus
    cr:label "status"@en ;
    cr:comment "Whether the event takes or took place as scheduled: schema:EventScheduled, EventPostponed, EventCancelled, EventRescheduled, EventMovedOnline. Cancelled and postponed events keep their identifiers."@en .

schema:eventAttendanceMode

schema:eventAttendanceMode
    cr:label "attendance mode"@en ;
    cr:comment "On site (schema:OfflineEventAttendanceMode), online (OnlineEventAttendanceMode) or hybrid (MixedEventAttendanceMode)."@en .

schema:superEvent

schema:superEvent
    cr:label "part of"@en ;
    cr:comment "Not used by confref directly: its subproperties cr:inSeries and cr:heldAt say which relation is meant."@en .

skos:closeMatch

skos:closeMatch
    cr:label "close match"@en ;
    cr:comment "On our own terms: the term of another vocabulary (AEON) that means nearly the same. The terms are not interchangeable in every application."@en .

Places, dates, websites, proceedings

The place, the end date, the website and the proceedings of an event in ids (confref-data decisions 0013, 0018).

schema:location

schema:location
    cr:label "place"@en ;
    cr:comment "The place of the event: a Wikidata item (a city, else a region, else a country), as linked in the dataset ls-places and described in wikidata-places. Where no item was found, the name of the place as the source gives it."@en .

schema:startDate

schema:startDate
    cr:label "start date"@en ;
    cr:comment "The first day of the event (xsd:date)."@en .

cr:year

cr:year
    a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:label "year"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The year of the event (xsd:gYear), also where the sources give no full date."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Event ;
    rdfs:range xsd:gYear .

schema:endDate

schema:endDate
    cr:label "end date"@en ;
    cr:comment "The last day of the event (xsd:date)."@en .

schema:url

schema:url
    cr:label "website"@en ;
    cr:comment "The website of the series or event, as ConfIDent or Wikidata give it."@en .

cr:proceedings

cr:proceedings
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "proceedings"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "A proceedings volume with contributions of the event: a record of a source (a dblp publication, a Springer book, a Wikidata item). An event can have several volumes, and a volume can cover several events."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Event .

Academic fields and disciplines

Confref-data decision 0019. The fields are the concepts of the vocabulary oecd-fos (https://id.confref.org/data/oecd-fos/<code>); the disciplines are Wikidata items.

cr:field

cr:field
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "academic field"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "A field of the OECD classification of fields of science and technology (Frascati Manual, revised 2007) that the series, event or discipline belongs to: a concept of the vocabulary oecd-fos."@en .

cr:discipline

cr:discipline
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "discipline"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "A discipline or research topic of the series or event, finer than its academic field: a Wikidata item."@en .

Ratings

Confref-data decision 0020. A rating is a statement of a rating system about a series or an event at a time, kept in datasets of the kind rating, not in ids.

<https://id.confref.org/data/ratings-springer-lod/aaecc/core>
    a cr:Rating ;
    cr:ratingOf <http://lod.springer.com/data/confseries/aaecc> ;
    cr:ratingSystem <https://id.confref.org/data/rating-systems/core> ;
    cr:ratingValue "B" ;
    dcterms:date "2017-04-06"^^xsd:date .

cr:Rating

cr:Rating
    a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "rating"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The value a rating system gives to a series or event at a time: a rank (CORE A*), a class (Qualis B1) or an indicator (h5-index)."@en ;
    rdfs:subClassOf schema:Rating .

cr:ratingOf

cr:ratingOf
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "rating of"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The series or event that is rated: a record of a source or a confref identifier."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Rating .

cr:ratingSystem

cr:ratingSystem
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "rating system"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The ranking or indicator the rating belongs to: a concept of the vocabulary rating-systems."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Rating .

cr:ratingValue

cr:ratingValue
    a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:label "rating value"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The value, as the rating system gives it (A*, B1, 12)."@en ;
    rdfs:domain cr:Rating ;
    rdfs:subPropertyOf schema:ratingValue .

dcterms:date

dcterms:date
    cr:label "date"@en ;
    cr:comment "On a rating: the date or year the rating refers to, or the date the source took it over."@en .

Identity and history

Identity. The sources state that their records are the same as others (owl:sameAs, identifier properties); confref keeps these statements as given. What confref itself states to be the same series or event is cr:sameAs: in the linksets and in the identifier set ids (a series or event of confref and the records of the sources it brings together). cr:sameAs is a subproperty of owl:sameAs.

History of our identifiers. The identifiers stay stable from version to version of ids. When the records show that two identifiers stand for the same series or event, one is merged into the other (cr:mergedInto, the older one is kept); when one identifier stood for several, it is split (cr:splitInto); an identifier that no longer stands for a series or event is retired (cr:retiredDate). Each change is stated once, with the date of the version that made it. An identifier is never used again.

cr:sameAs

cr:sameAs
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "same as (confref)"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The same series or event, as stated by confref (linksets, identifier set). Statements of sources use owl:sameAs."@en ;
    rdfs:subPropertyOf owl:sameAs .

cr:mergedInto

cr:mergedInto
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "merged into"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The identifier that replaces this one: both stood for the same series or event; the older one is kept."@en ;
    rdfs:subPropertyOf dcterms:isReplacedBy .

cr:mergeDate

cr:mergeDate
    a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:label "merge date"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The date of the version of the identifier set that merged this identifier."@en ;
    rdfs:range xsd:date .

cr:splitInto

cr:splitInto
    a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:label "split into"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The identifiers that replace this one: it stood for several series or events."@en .

cr:splitDate

cr:splitDate
    a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:label "split date"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The date of the version of the identifier set that split this identifier."@en ;
    rdfs:range xsd:date .

cr:retiredDate

cr:retiredDate
    a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:label "retired date"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "The date of the version of the identifier set from which this identifier no longer stands for a series or event. It is not reused."@en ;
    rdfs:range xsd:date .

owl:sameAs

owl:sameAs
    cr:label "same as"@en ;
    cr:comment "As stated by a source: its record is the same as this resource. confref keeps these statements as given; its own identity statements are cr:sameAs."@en .

Statistics of datasets

cr:currentSubjects

cr:currentSubjects
    a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:label "current subjects"@en ;
    rdfs:comment "In the metadata of a version of the identifier set: the number of identifiers that stand for a series or event (not merged, split or retired)."@en ;
    rdfs:range xsd:integer .

Open

The class of proceedings (the volumes are records of their sources for now).
Organisers of series and events.