Skip to content

Persistent Identifiers (PIDs)

This page lists the persistent, stable, and dereferenceable identifiers (PIDs) established by the Health-RI Semantic Interoperability Initiative. These URIs support semantic interoperability, long-term accessibility, and alignment with FAIR principles.

Choosing the right PID (formats)

Some PIDs can open in different formats depending on how the link is accessed.

  • Use the about URI (e.g., https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology) to let the system pick a suitable format automatically.
  • Use an explicit format URI (e.g., /ontology/ttl, /ontology/json, /mapping-vocabulary/spec) when you need a specific format.

Note: browsers usually open HTML pages, while RDF tools can request RDF (e.g., Turtle). You may also be forwarded to GitHub or the documentation site—this is expected; the w3id.org link is the stable PID.

Initiative-Wide Identifier

URI: https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability

This URI refers to the Semantic Interoperability Initiative as a whole. It provides persistent access to the initiative's public-facing resources and is suitable for citing the initiative in publications, websites, and metadata records. For a scholarly citation of the initiative's conceptual rationale, cite the academic paper (and optionally include this URI as the project identifier).

ChatGPT Assistants / Guides

These PIDs are simple redirects (no content negotiation):

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/hrio-mapping-assistant
  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/health-ri-semantic-interoperability-guide

Documents

Project documents stored in the Semantic Interoperability repository are exposed under:

https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/documents/<path>

This PID pattern redirects to the corresponding file under documents/ on the main branch.

Example:

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/documents/preprints/enabling-semantic-traceability-in-health-data-v1.1.0.pdf → Preprint PDF (stable PID; file hosted on GitHub)

Ontology Identifier

URI: https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology

This is the main identifier for the Health-RI Ontology (HRIO), and always resolves to the ontology's most recent version. The namespace IRI for HRIO terms is https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology# (prefix hrio:). In a browser, this typically opens the HTML documentation; RDF tools typically obtain Turtle (or JSON, if requested).

Identifiers for the Latest Ontology Version

These URIs point to the most recent release of the Health-RI Ontology and related documentation formats.

PID Description
/ontology/ttl OWL ontology in Turtle format
/ontology/documentation HTML rendering of the OntoUML ontology documentation
/ontology/specification HTML rendering of the gUFO ontology documentation
/ontology/json OntoUML model exported as JSON
/ontology/vpp OntoUML model file in Visual Paradigm format
/ontology/shacl SHACL constraint and derivation rules

Each of these URIs redirects to the latest available version of the resource.

Tip

You can use either /doc or /documentation, and /spec or /specification — both forms are valid and equivalent.

Note

Our SHACL file uses the .shacl extension and Turtle serialization.

Citing vs browsing

Use versioned PIDs (e.g., /ontology/vX.Y.Z/...) when citing HRIO in papers, metadata, or data releases to ensure reproducibility. Use the latest PIDs (e.g., /ontology/ttl, /ontology/doc) for browsing and "always-up-to-date" references.

Identifiers for Versioned Ontology Releases

To support traceability and reproducibility, each ontology release is also available via version-specific URIs. Each versioned release of the Health-RI Ontology is identified by its own dedicated URI in the format https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/vX.Y.Z. This URI is used as the owl:versionIRI in the ontology metadata.

See also:

Format

https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/vX.Y.Z/{format}

Where:

  • X.Y.Z is the HRIO release version identifier (see the Ontology Versioning Policy) (e.g., 2.0.0)
  • {format} is one of:
    • ttl — OWL ontology (Turtle)
    • vpp — OntoUML model (Visual Paradigm)
    • json — OntoUML model (JSON)
    • shacl — SHACL constraint and derivation rules (Turtle)
    • documentation — OntoUML documentation (Markdown source, rendered as HTML)
    • specification — gUFO HTML documentation

Tip

You can also use the version URI without a {format} (e.g., /v0.6.0): browsers open the HTML specification, while RDF tools default to Turtle (or JSON if requested).

Examples

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/v0.6.0/ttl → Ontology in Turtle format for version 0.6.0

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/v0.6.0/vpp → Visual Paradigm project file for version 0.6.0

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/v0.9.1/documentation → Documentation (Markdown source, rendered as HTML) for OntoUML ontology version 0.9.1

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/v0.6.0/specification → HTML documentation for gUFO ontology version 0.6.0

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/v0.11.9/shacl → SHACL shapes for version 0.11.9

SSSOM Mappings PIDs

The following PIDs provide stable access to the latest SSSOM mapping set produced by the initiative, in both Turtle (TTL) and TSV formats.

Latest Mappings

  • URI (about / negotiated): https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/mappings (browsers typically open TSV; RDF tools default to Turtle; also available explicitly as /mappings/ttl and /mappings/tsv)

  • URI (TTL, explicit): https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/mappings/ttl

  • URI (TSV, explicit): https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/mappings/tsv

These PIDs redirect to the canonical files in the Health-RI GitHub repository (branch main), ensuring that citations remain stable while the underlying files can be updated as needed.

Examples

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/mappings → Latest SSSOM mappings. Negotiated: TSV in a browser; TTL for RDF tools

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/mappings/tsv → Latest SSSOM mappings in TSV (.tsv)

Mapping Vocabulary PIDs

The Health-RI Mapping Vocabulary defines terms used in our mapping work. The PIDs below provide stable access to the latest vocabulary and to versioned snapshots.

Latest Vocabulary

  • URI (about / negotiated): https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary (browsers typically open the HTML specification; RDF tools default to Turtle; also available explicitly as /mapping-vocabulary/ttl and /mapping-vocabulary/spec)

  • URI (TTL, explicit): https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/ttl

  • URI (HTML specification): https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/specification (alias: /mapping-vocabulary/spec)

Tip

Both /spec and /specification are valid and equivalent for the vocabulary specification.

Examples

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary → Latest vocabulary. Negotiated: HTML specification in a browser; TTL for RDF tools

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/spec → Latest HTML specification

Versioned Vocabulary

Versioned PIDs include an explicit vX.Y.Z segment and resolve to immutable artifacts for that release.

  • URI (about / negotiated): https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/vX.Y.Z (browsers open the HTML specification; RDF tools default to Turtle; also available explicitly as /vX.Y.Z/ttl and /vX.Y.Z/spec)

  • URI (TTL, explicit): https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/vX.Y.Z/ttl

  • URI (HTML specification): https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/vX.Y.Z/specification (alias: /vX.Y.Z/spec)

Examples

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/v1.0.0 → Vocabulary version v1.0.0. Negotiated: HTML specification in a browser; TTL for RDF tools

  • https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/v1.0.0/spec → HTML specification for version v1.0.0

Overview of Persistent Identifiers

PID Description Behavior Example
/semantic-interoperability Project-level identifier Forwards to documentation site https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability
/semantic-interoperability/git Source code and data repository Forwards to GitHub https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/git
/semantic-interoperability/hrio-mapping-assistant HRIO Mapping Assistant (ChatGPT) Forwards to the ChatGPT assistant https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/hrio-mapping-assistant
/semantic-interoperability/health-ri-semantic-interoperability-guide Semantic Interoperability Guide (ChatGPT) Forwards to the ChatGPT guide https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/health-ri-semantic-interoperability-guide
/semantic-interoperability/documents/{path} Project documents Forwards to the raw file on GitHub (main) https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/documents/preprints/enabling-semantic-traceability-in-health-data-v1.1.0.pdf
/ontology Ontology root (about URI) Forwards to HTML documentation (browser) or TTL/JSON (tools) https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology
/ontology/ttl Latest ontology in Turtle format Forwards to latest .ttl file (GitHub) https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/ttl
/ontology/shacl Latest SHACL shapes Forwards to latest .shacl file (GitHub) https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/shacl
/ontology/documentation Latest HTML documentation Forwards to OntoUML human-readable documentation https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/documentation
/ontology/specification Latest HTML specification Forwards to gUFO human-readable documentation https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/specification
/ontology/json Latest JSON export of OntoUML Forwards to latest .json file (GitHub) https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/json
/ontology/vpp Latest OntoUML model (.vpp) Forwards to latest .vpp file (GitHub) https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/vpp
/ontology/vX.Y.Z/{format} Versioned ontology release Forwards to version-specific file/page https://w3id.org/health-ri/ontology/v0.6.0/ttl
/semantic-interoperability/mappings Latest SSSOM mappings (about URI) Forwards to TSV (browser) or TTL (RDF tools) https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/mappings
/semantic-interoperability/mappings/ttl Latest SSSOM mappings (TTL, explicit) Forwards to latest .ttl file (GitHub) https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/mappings/ttl
/semantic-interoperability/mappings/tsv Latest SSSOM mappings (TSV, explicit) Forwards to latest .tsv file (GitHub) https://w3id.org/health-ri/semantic-interoperability/mappings/tsv
/mapping-vocabulary Mapping Vocabulary (about URI) Forwards to HTML spec (browser) or TTL (RDF tools) https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary
/mapping-vocabulary/ttl Latest Mapping Vocabulary (TTL, explicit) Forwards to latest .ttl file (GitHub) https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/ttl
/mapping-vocabulary/specification Latest Mapping Vocabulary HTML specification Forwards to latest spec page https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/specification
/mapping-vocabulary/vX.Y.Z Versioned Mapping Vocabulary (about URI) Forwards to HTML spec (browser) or TTL (RDF tools) https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/v1.0.0
/mapping-vocabulary/vX.Y.Z/specification Versioned Mapping Vocabulary specification Forwards to version-specific HTML spec https://w3id.org/health-ri/mapping-vocabulary/v1.0.0/specification