OBOFoundry · nataled · Feb 4, 2026 · Jan 27, 2026 · Feb 4, 2026
diff --git a/docs/StandardizationGuidelines.md b/docs/StandardizationGuidelines.md
@@ -2,46 +2,57 @@
 layout: doc
 title: Ontology Standardization Guidelines
 ---
+GO TO: [Technical Considerations](#technical-considerations) &#124; [Content-Considerations](#content-considerations) &#124; [Release Considerations](#release-considerations) &#124; [Social Considerations](#social-considerations) &#124; [Communication Considerations](#communication-considerations)
+
+### Technical Considerations
+
+- Ensure the ontology is logically consistent ([tracker item](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/482))
+  - The ontology MUST be **logically consistent**; that is:
+    - (a) there MUST NOT be contradictory statements revealed by reasoning;
+    - (b) there MUST NOT be any unsatisfiable classes; and
+    - (c) there MUST NOT be any circular definitions.
+  - This includes when the ontology is classified together with RO, BFO, and COB
+  - This also includes when the ontology is classified together with its base dependencies; that is, as part of a 'full' release (see [Release Considerations](#release-considerations) section below)
+- Indicate the root terms of the ontology ([tracker item](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/2149))
+  - Some ontology browsers make use of an ontology-wide annotation property, 'has ontology root term' (IAO:0000700), that governs how the hierarchy is displayed. This helps shield users from having to navigate through not-specific-enough parent terms (such as BFO:0000040 "material entity"). To enable this feature, an ontology SHOULD specify one or more appropriate root terms like so:
+      ```
+      OWL format:
+         <obo:IAO_0000700 rdf:resource="http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/*root term ID*"/>
+      OBO format:
+         property_value: IAO:0000700 *root term ID*
+      ```
+- Use standard synonym types
+  - Ontologies often include alternatives to term labels (aka synonyms). These can include abbreviations, acronyms, spelling variants, and other types of synonyms. A list of standard synonym types is provided by OMO under the parent Annotation Propery 'SynonymTypeProperty'. Ontology developers that wish to indicate a specific type of synonym SHOULD first consult this list before minting their own. If it is necessary to create a new type, developers SHOULD consider submitting to the OMO controlled vocabulary list indicated above.
+
+### Content Considerations
+
+- Use of NCIt terms - If an ontology developer wishes to create a term with a label that already exists in NCIt, the following apply:
+  - If the NCIt term definition and hierarchical position are reasonable, that term SHOULD be used instead;
+  - If either the NCIt term definition or the hierarchical position are sub-optimal, the developer MAY create a term in the ontology with an identical label but with a revised definition and subclassing; alternatively such a term MAY be requested of another ontology, if appropriate;
+  - For case (b), if the definition is based on the NCIt definition, the new term MUST be linked to the original NCIt term to conform to the [NCIt license](https://evs.nci.nih.gov/license) requirements. Note: this does not apply to reuse of term labels.
+- Use the preferred source for imported terms
+  - Imported terms SHOULD be drawn from the ontology that is the preferred source for the term. The preferred source is usually the ontology with the same ID space as the term, but it can instead be the ontology that currently maintains the term. Importing a term from a secondary source is not recommended because there is no guarantee that the secondary source has the most up-to-date term information, and thus drawing from the original would avoid possible conflicts due to term divergence.
+- Import entire ontologies only when necessary ([tracker item](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/2769))
+  - Unless necessary, an entire ontology SHOULD NOT be imported if only a subset of terms is needed. To import terms on an individual basis, [ROBOT 'extract'](https://robot.obolibrary.org/extract) and [OntoFox](https://ontofox.hegroup.org/index.php) are useful tools. Notable exceptions are imports of small ontologies that provide upper level structure or useful sets of properties:
+    - BFO (Basic Formal Ontology) or COB (Core Ontology for Biology and Biomedicine) are upper level ontologies used to harmonize multiple OBO Foundry ontologies under the same hierarchy.
+    - OMO contains commonly used annotation properties.
+    - RO Core contains the most commonly used relations.
+
+
+### Release Considerations
+
+- Provide recommended release types ([tracker item](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/482))
+  - In addition to a set of standards pertaining to release *format* (see [Principle 2](https://obofoundry.org/principles/fp-002-format.html)), the following are the standards pertaining to release *types*, each of which differ with respect to imports, axiomization, and reasoning (see [Release Artefacts](https://oboacademy.github.io/obook/reference/release-artefacts/) for more detailed information):
+  - **base** (RECOMMENDED; denoted by PURL ending with ONT.owl): Content includes only terms that are owned by the ontology, which include (a) terms using that ontology's prefix; and (b) any terms with a different prefix that are now maintained by that ontology. It does not contain any imports. It does, however, retain references to external ontologies within axioms as needed for definitions and reasoning. Such references, when displayed in Protege, will appear as identifiers only; that is, without labels. Finally, the base will have had reasoning already applied and will be stripped of redundant axioms. **QUESTION: WILL THIS APPLY TO A SPECIFIC REASONER?**
+  - **full** (REQUIRED; denoted by PURL ending with ONT-full.owl ): Content is as for **base** except that all referenced external terms are present (that is, imports are merged into the **full** release).
+  - *other release artefacts* (OPTIONAL; denoted by PURL ending with ONT-<artefact_type>.owl): These include **non-classified**, **simple**, **basic**, and **simple-non-classified**. See the Release Artefacts link above for details on these.
+  - Every ontology MUST provide a 'base' release and MUST provide a 'full' release.
+
+<!-- ### Social Considerations THIS SECTION WILL NOT BE MADE VISIBLE UNTIL CONTENT IS ADDED -->
+
+
+### Communication Considerations
+
+- Link terms to issue tracker ([tracker item](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/1097)) Any term (or set of terms) with an affiliated issue tracker item (term request or term discussion) SHOULD be linked to the relevant issue(s). Such linking SHOULD use the annotation property 'term tracker item' (IAO:0000233) and SHOULD NOT use a free text comment. The range for 'term tracker item' MUST consist solely of an IRI, without additional text, and the IRI MUST be for the issue tracker item.
 
-### Social
 
-
-### Communication
-
-COMMUNICATION Ontology subsets documentation [#466](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/446)
-COMMUNICATION Referring to taxa not in NCBITaxon [#434](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/434)
-COMMUNICATION Document how to add logo [#72](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/72)
-COMMUNICATION Short ontology descriptions [#1968](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/1968)
-COMMUNICATION Documentation for license [#1840](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/1840)
-
-### Content
-
-CONTENT Discourage BFO shadow classes [#1539](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/1539)
-CONTENT? Ignoring NCIT (no issue, but has come up that NCIT is not well-formed enough to be a concern re: things like overlap)
-METADATA Term adoption [#2330](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/2330) and [#2324](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/2324)
-
-### Technical
-
-
-
-
-Not yet classified:
-
-    Every ontology SHOULD provide a base
-    Every ontology primary release MUST be consistent and coherent
-    Every ontology MUST be coherent when classified together with RO, BFO, and COB
-    Every ontology SHOULD be coherent when classified together with all its base-dependencies
-
-METADATA Versioning term identifiers [#1347](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/1347)
-METADATA Linking term to discussion on tracker [#1097](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/1097)
-METADATA Language tags [#479](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/479) and  [#325](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/325)
-METADATA Synonym types [#2450](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/2450)
-METADATA Ontology root terms annotation [#2149](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/2149)
-METADATA Publications metadata [#1671](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/1671)
-METADATA Ontology merging [#1548](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/1548)
-METADATA Exemplar classes [#899](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/899)
-METADATA Ontology metadata requirements [#1365](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/1365)
-STANDARDIZATION? Standardized xref prefixes in ontologies [#525](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/525)
-Proposals here: [#482](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/482) (comment)
-METADATA Modeling metaclasses [#2454](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/2454)
-METADATA Standardizing how imported ontologies are noted [#424](https://github.com/OBOFoundry/OBOFoundry.github.io/issues/424)