Ontology of Descriptions and Observations for Integrated Modelling (ODO-IM)

Knowledge integration and interoperability have central roles in connecting information and extracting evidence to support sustainability agendas at local and global levels. Several initiatives, such as FAIR, Open Science, and many EU policies have been proposed to curate and manage information. However, researchers endure continued fragmentation of scientific knowledge, e.g. data, models, and approaches, which are typically compartmentalized by field and within communities. In addition, relevant scientific knowledge that can be valuable for critical assessments can be locked or has limited access, phenomena that further constrains scientific enterprise and cohesive efforts to address pressing challenges, such as climate change. This paper presents the ontological commitments of the core ontology Ontology of Descriptions and Observations for Integrated Modelling (ODO-IM), which is designed to capture scientific observations and related descriptions for integrating scientific assets. The ontology has been developed to serve knowledge.LAB (k.LAB), an open-source semantic web software for integrated modeling, in which scenarios are modeled using a dedicated English-like declarative language. Some examples are provided that demonstrate the role of ODO-IM in the context of social and environmental sustainability, which is currently the main application of the integrated modeling software.