Media 1: Logos of the BITS project and the ESS collection.

The TIB Terminology Service

The TIB Terminology Service (TIB TS) is an open source, free of charge web service hosted by the TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology and University Library.

Media 2: Start page of the TIB Terminology Service

The TIB TS is intended to be a one-stop-shop for terminology search, browsing and look-up of terminologies, i.e. ontologies and vocabularies. As part of the BITS (Blueprints for the Integration of Terminologies in Earth System Sciences) project, terminologies relevant to Earth System Sciences are being brought together in the ESS collection so that they can be easily found and used.

Accessing and Exploring Terminologies

The following functionalities are allowed by the TIB TS:

• The latest versions of the most relevant terminologies from earth system sciences, chemistry, engineering, architecture and many more fields can be accessed at https://terminology.tib.eu/ts.
• Domain knowledge can be explored by studying the hierarchy of the respective ontology or vocabulary such as of the SWEET ontology.
• The presence of synonyms for a term in an ontology can be determined, e.g. X-ray imaging of the ontology Analytical Methods for Geochemistry has the synonym X-Radiography.
• Definitions can be looked up, e.g. of the term Amperometry in the ontology Analytical Methods for Geochemistry.
• A concept’s persistent identifier can be retrieved, e.g. Amperometry has the persistent identifier https://w3id.org/geochem/1.0/analyticalmethod/amperometry. This identifier can be used if data needs to be annotated, e.g. in the metadata for a DOI.
• TIB Terminology Service data (provided as JSON-files) can be used in other services or application via REST API. It has a comprehensive description (Swagger Documentation) with many examples. For example, if a search for temperature in all terminologies in the TIB TS is needed, https://api.terminology.tib.eu/api/search?q=temperature can be used. If the search should be restricted on a special ontology such as SWEET, then https://api.terminology.tib.eu/api/search?ontology=SWEET&q=temperature should be used.

Contributing to the TIB Terminology Service

The TIB TS can be logged into either with an ORCID or GitHub account - this enables active participation in the development of the service:

1. Terminologies that are missing from the TIB TS can be suggested by going to the Help page and then selecting Ontology Suggestion. Suggested terminologies must be available in the machine-readable and -interpretable formats OWL or SKOS and have mandatory metadata such as a license. More information on the mandatory and optional metadata of terminologies in the TIB TS can be found in Arndt et al. (2024). On Github, in the Terminology Metadata Recommendations by TIB, it can be tested whether the metadata describing an ontology is suitable for uploading to the TIB TS.
2. A terminology for the ESS collection can be suggested - ESS can be searched for on the Collections page and the “Suggest an ontology for this collection” button can be used. New terminologies as well as terminologies that are already indexed in the TIB TS, but not in the ESS collection, can be suggested.
3. Issues can be reported, or missing terms in a specific terminology ca be suggested (requires GitHub sign-in) by navigating to the “Github Panel” folder on the page of the specific terminology. As most of the terminologies in the TIB TS are not developed by TIB, suggestions will automatically be forwarded to the developers of the terminology, if it is developed and stored in Git(Lab or Hub).
4. Notes can be added to terminologies and individual terms by going to the “Notes” folder on the page of the specific terminology. For example, notes about the mappings of a term to other terms, about errors or inaccuracies in descriptions, or missing human-readable term names can be added.

The ESS Terminology Service is a work in progress. The needs of the community can only be met by actively participating in its development: by suggesting new terminologies and new terms, or by making comments. The functionalities mentioned above should be used. For general suggestions and support, please contact INFO.BITS@tib.eu.