Design Principles of OntoCAPE

Concluding the description of OntoCAPE, we will subsequently present the major principles according to which the ontology has been designed. Basically, design principles are objective criteria for guiding and evaluating the design decisions made during ontology development (Gruber 1995). A number of design principles for information modeling in general, and ontology engineering in particular, have been suggested in the literature (e.g., Gruber 1995; Fox and Gruninger 1998; Arpirez et al. 1998; Chandrasekaran et al. 1999; Gomez-Perez et al. 2004; Rector et al. 2004; Smith 2006; and others). Compliance with these acknowledged principles is a credible indicator for the quality of an ontology.