Ontological Cores of Documents: A Construction Methodology and Use Cases

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Author(s)

Mohammed El Ouaazizi 1

1. Laboratory of Engineering Sciences (LSI), Polydisciplinary Faculty of Taza, USMBA University, Morocco

* Corresponding author.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5815/ijeme.2026.04.01

Received: 14 Apr. 2026 / Revised: 18 May 2026 / Accepted: 17 Jun. 2026 / Published: 8 Aug. 2026

Index Terms

Digitized Document, Semantic Model, Structural Ontology, Core Ontology, Ontological Core, Knowledge Engineering, Digital libraries, Semantic Web

Abstract

The preservation of rare documents in the form of image collections presents significant challenges regarding access to their documentary content. To enable this accessibility for software agents, this article proposes a formal representation of this type of document through a semantic description layer. This layer includes a set of descriptive metadata attached to the document, alongside the minimal and strictly necessary vocabulary required to formalize the explicit textual and visual knowledge of its documentary content. To achieve this, we present a construction methodology based on a Semantic Model of Document (SMD), where a document is treated as a core documentary resource containing a set of information resources. The semantic description of these resources, aligned with RDF framework logic, produces an Ontological Core of Document (OCD) that formally describes the document's logical structure and captures its underlying semantics. Finally, we demonstrate the practical utility of these Ontological Cores through three distinct use cases—each targeting a specific dataset level (structural, administrative, and semantic)—showing how they allow software applications to move beyond simple collection searching toward intelligent, precise information extraction directly from the documentary content.

Cite This Paper

Mohammed El Ouaazizi, "Ontological Cores of Documents: A Construction Methodology and Use Cases", International Journal of Education and Management Engineering (IJEME), Vol.16, No.4, pp. 1-15, 2026. DOI:10.5815/ijeme.2026.04.01

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