Paolo Ciccarese Sebastian Barzaghi Tim Clark David Shotton Silvio Peroni 2026-06-22 CiTO, the Citation Typing Ontology The _Citation Typing Ontology_ (_CiTO_) is an ontology written in OWL 2 DL to enable characterization of the nature or type of citations, both factually and rhetorically, and to permit these descriptions to be published on the Web. Peroni, S., Shotton, D. (2012). FaBiO and CiTO: ontologies for describing bibliographic resources and citations. In Journal of Web Semantics, 17: 33-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.websem.2012.08.001. Open Access at: http://speroni.web.cs.unibo.it/publications/peroni-2012-fabio-cito-ontologies.pdf 2017-10-30 ## Description The _Citation Typing Ontology_ (_CiTO_) makes it possible for authors (or others) to mark citation links and to capture their citation intent (e.g., `cito:extends`, `cito:usesMethodIn`, `cito:supports`) when someone cites a particular publication. In particular, CiTO allows one to create metadata describing citations that are distinct from metadata describing the cited works themselves, and permits the motives of an author when referring to another document to be captured. CiTO contains just two main object properties, `cito:cites` and its inverse `cito:isCitedBy`, each of which has forty-one sub-properties, plus four additional generic object properties – i.e. `cito:shareAuthorWith`, `cito:sharesAuthorInstitutionWith`, `cito:sharesFundingAgencyWith` and `cito:likes` – that may be used even outside a citation. As defined in _Functions of Citations Ontology_, all these properties (and, consequently, their inverses) may be classified as rhetorical and/or factual, with the rhetorical properties being grouped in three sets depending on their connotation: positive, informative (or neutral) or negative. Note that all the domain and range constraints from the object properties are not defined, so that this ontology could be easily integrated with other models, e.g., [FaBiO](http://purl.org/spar/fabio). CiTO makes available a mechanism that permits the citation itself to be reified, so that it can become the subject or object of other RDF statements. In particular, the reifying class is `cito:Citation`, and its accompanying object properties, i.e., `cito:hasCitingEntity`, `cito:hasCitationCharacterization` and `cito:hasCitedEntity`, can be employed to reify direct citation statements made using the CiTO citation object property `cito:cites` or one of its sub-properties. ## Examples of use In the following subsections, we introduce some examples to showcase how to use CiTO. The prefixes that are used in all the examples provided below are defined as follows: @prefix : <http://www.sparontologies.net/example/> . @prefix c4o: <http://purl.org/spar/c4o/> . @prefix cito: <http://purl.org/spar/cito> . @prefix cnt: <http://www.w3.org/2011/content#> . @prefix oa: <http://www.w3.org/ns/oa#> . @prefix per: <http://data.semanticweb.org/person/> . ### Defining citation links and their functions CiTO allows one to link two papers – or, more generally, two generic resources – where one (i.e., the citing paper) cites another one (i.e., the cited paper) according to a particular citation function (e.g., `cito:extends`, `cito:usesMethodIn`, `cito:supports`). CiTO makes available two different approaches for creating such links. In the direct approach, we can use any of the CiTO properties as predicate of statements for defining citations. In the reified approach, we can define the citation as a proper individual of the class `cito:Citation`, in order to use it as subject/object of other statements. # Direct form for a citation :paper-a cito:extends :paper-b . # Reified form for a citation sharing the same # citation function of the above one :citation a cito:Citation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paper-a ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paper-b . ### Annotating a citation with an additional text-defined citation function Despite the extensive list of CiTO properties, there could be situations in which the purpose of making a citation cannot be adequately expressed using these CiTO properties. It is now possible to use the [Open Annotation Data Model](http://www.openannotation.org/spec/core/) to define the reason for, or the nature of, the citation. In the [Open Annotation Data Model Ontology](http://www.w3.org/ns/oa), an annotation is described as a member of the class `oa:Annotation`, which has a body containing the annotation itself defined by `oa:hasBody`, and an annotation target (the thing to which the annotation relates) defined by `oa:hasTarget`. In order to express a more precise justification of a citation, the target of the annotation should be an individual of the class `cito:Citation`, while the body, i.e. the textual content of the annotation itself, is described using the [W3C Content Vocabulary](http://www.w3.org/TR/Content-in-RDF10/) as an individual of the class `cnt:ContentAsText`, which the property `cnt:chars` relates to the text string actually providing the annotation. In addition, an OA annotation can be further characterized by the motivation for making such annotation, defined by `oa:motivatedBy`. In this case, the appropriate motivation is `oa:commenting`, an instance of the class `oa:Motivation`. The whole example has been extracted from the blog post 'Extending CiTO to enable use of the Open Annotation Data Model to describe citations'. :annotation a oa:Annotation; oa:motivatedBy oa:commenting ; oa:hasBody :comment ; oa:hasTarget :citation . :comment a cnt:ContentAsText ; cnt:chars "I'm citing that paper because it initiated this whole new field of research." . :citation a cito:Citation; cito:hasCitingEntity :paper-a ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:cites ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paper-b . ### Annotating an in-text reference pointer with a citation function Several citations to the same article could exist in the same text, and such citations could express different functions depending on the author's view. Usually, in a scientific paper, each of these citations is actually described by means of an in-text reference pointers, i.e., a textual device (e.g., "[6]") denoting a single bibliographic reference (referring to the cited paper) that is embedded in the text of a document within the context of a particular sentence. One of the SPAR Ontologies, i.e., [C4O](https://www.sparontologies.net/ontologies/c4o), defines the entities for describing in-text reference pointers (individuals of the class `c4o:InTextReferencePointer`) and to link them to the related bibliographic references included in the paper. The [Open Annotation Data Model Ontology](http://www.w3.org/ns/oa) can be used to annotate each in-text reference pointer of a paper with the particular citation it conveys. In particular, we can create an annotation (i.e., an individual of the class `oa:Annotation`) with a body (object property `oa:hasBody`) containing a specific citation among the citing paper and the cited paper, and with the in-text reference pointer as target (object property `oa:hasTarget`) of the annotation. In addition, it is also possible to specify (through the object property `oa:annotatedBy`) the agent who created such annotation – who can be the author of the paper containing the in-text reference pointer, a reader or a software agent. :annotation a oa:Annotation ; oa:hasBody :citation ; oa:hasTarget :in-text-ref-pointer ; oa:annotatedBy per:silvio-peroni . :citation a cito:Citation; cito:hasCitingEntity :paper-a ; cito:hasCitationEvent cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paper-b . :in-text-ref-pointer a c4o:InTextReferencePointer ; c4o:hasContent '[6]' . ## Competency Questions CiTO can be used for answering several questions related to citations, their intent and their overall context. In the following subsections, some of them are introduced together with their respective SPARQL queries. The prefixes that are used in all the SPARQL queries provided below are defined as follows: PREFIX : <http://www.sparontologies.net/example/> PREFIX c4o: <http://purl.org/spar/c4o/> PREFIX cito: <http://purl.org/spar/cito> PREFIX cnt: <http://www.w3.org/2011/content#> PREFIX oa: <http://www.w3.org/ns/oa#> PREFIX per: <http://data.semanticweb.org/person/> ### CQ1 Which papers directly extend other papers? SELECT ?citingPaper ?citedPaper WHERE { ?citingPaper cito:extends ?citedPaper . } ### CQ2 What are the reified citations originated by a specific paper, and what are their citation functions? SELECT ?citation ?citedPaper ?characterization WHERE { ?citation a cito:Citation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paper-a ; cito:hasCitedEntity ?citedPaper ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization ?characterization . } ### CQ3 What is the text of the motivational comment associated with a citation? SELECT ?citation ?commentText WHERE { ?annotation a oa:Annotation ; oa:motivatedBy oa:commenting ; oa:hasTarget ?citation ; oa:hasBody ?comment . ?comment a cnt:ContentAsText ; cnt:chars ?commentText . } ### CQ4 Which in-text reference pointers have been annotated by a specific agent? SELECT ?pointer ?textValue WHERE { ?annotation a oa:Annotation ; oa:annotatedBy per:silvio-peroni ; oa:hasTarget ?pointer . ?pointer a c4o:InTextReferencePointer ; c4o:hasContent ?textValue . } ### CQ5 Which citations are linked to an in-text reference pointer, and what are the papers involved? SELECT ?pointer ?citation ?citingPaper ?citedPaper WHERE { ?annotation a oa:Annotation ; oa:hasTarget ?pointer ; oa:hasBody ?citation . ?pointer a c4o:InTextReferencePointer . ?citation a cito:Citation ; cito:hasCitingEntity ?citingPaper ; cito:hasCitedEntity ?citedPaper . } 2017-10-30 2026-06-22 10.1016/j.websem.2012.08.001 cito http://purl.org/spar/cito/ The Citation Typing Ontology (CiTO) is an ontology that enables characterization of the nature or type of citations, both factually and rhetorically. **URL:** http://purl.org/spar/cito **Creators**: [David Shotton](http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5506-523X), [Silvio Peroni](http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0530-4305) **Contributors:** [Paolo Ciccarese](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5156-2703), [Tim Clark](https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4060-7360) **License:** [Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode) **Website:** http://www.sparontologies.net/ontologies/cito **Cite as:** Peroni, S., Shotton, D. (2012). FaBiO and CiTO: ontologies for describing bibliographic resources and citations. In Journal of Web Semantics, 17: 33-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.websem.2012.08.001. Open Access at: http://speroni.web.cs.unibo.it/publications/peroni-2012-fabio-cito-ontologies.pdf 2.8.2 Published version The _Citation Typing Ontology_ (_CiTO_) is an ontology written in OWL 2 DL to enable characterization of the nature or type of citations, both factually and rhetorically, and to permit these descriptions to be published on the Web. The citations characterized may be either direct and explicit (as in the reference list of a journal article), indirect (e.g. a citation to a more recent paper by the same research group on the same topic), or implicit (e.g. as in artistic quotations or parodies, or in cases of plagiarism). CiTO contains the object property `cito:cites` and its sub-properties, and its inverse property `cito:isCitedBy`, from the original Citation Typing Ontology (CiTO v1.6). Upon the creation of version 2.0 of CiTO, a number of new sub-properties of `cito:cites` were added, and the inverse properties of all the sub-properties of `cito:cites` were created, all of which are sub-properties of `cito:isCitedBy`. The ontology has also been integrated with the _SWAN Discourse Relationships Ontology_ by making `cito:cites` a sub-property of `http://purl.org/swan/2.0/discourse-relationships/refersTo`. Restrictions of domain and range present in the previous version of CiTO were removed from the object properties when creating CiTO v2.0, permitting its independent use in other contexts, in addition to conventional bibliographic citations. So that they can be used independently, other entities that were previously included in CiTO v1.6 have now been made components of other SPAR ontologies: _FaBiO_, the _FRBR-aligned Bibliographic Ontology_; _C4O_, the _Citation Counting and Context Characterization Ontology_; and _PSO_, the _Publication Status Ontology_. The addition of two new properties (`cito:usesConclusionsFrom` and its inverse `cito:providesConclusionsFor`) led to a version number increment from v2.0 to v2.1. The addition of two additional properties, `cito:compiles` and `cito:isCompiledBy`, previously in the deprecated _CiTO4Data_ ontology, led to a version increment from v2.1 to v2.2. Subsequent expansions include: * in versions 2.3 and 2.4: the addition of the object properties `cito:citesAsPotentialSolution`, `cito:citesAsRecommendedReading`, `cito:repliesTo`, `cito:retracts`, `cito:speculatesOn`, and their inverse properties; * in version 2.5: the addition of `cito:CitationAct`, `cito:hasCitationEvent`, `cito:hasCitedEntity` and `cito:hasCitingEntity`; * in version 2.6: renaming `cito:hasCitationEvent` to become `cito:hasCitationCharacterization`; improving definitions of `cito:CitationAct`, `cito:hasCitationCharacterization`, `cito:hasCitedEntity` and `cito:hasCitingEntity`; revising the definition of `cito:isCompiledBy` to correct it and bring it into line with the DataCite Metadata Kernel v2.2 definition; changing the definition of `cito:sharesAuthorsWith` from 'An object property indicating that the citing entity has at least one author in common with the cited entity.' to 'An object property between two entities indicating that they have at least one author in common.' so that it can be used when one entity does not actually cite the other; adding the object properties `cito:hasRelatedEntity`, `cito:sharesFundingAgencyWith` and `cito:sharesAuthorInstitutionWith`; and adding the text 'An object property indicating that . . .' at the beginning of the textual definition (`rdfs:comment`) for each CiTO object property. * in version 2.6.1: removed text 'An object property indicating that . . .' added in v2.6 at the beginning of the textual definition (`rdfs:comment`) for each CiTO object property, so that each definition is just a direct statement of the relationship; removed the property `cito:hasRelatedEntity` (in favour of using `dcterms:relation`); renamed `cito:hasReply` to become `cito:hasReplyFrom`; improved the textual definitions of `cito:derides` and its inverse property; * in version 2.6.2: improved definitions of `cito:CitationAct`, `cito:hasCitationCharacterization`, `cito:hasCitedEntity` and `cito:hasCitingEntity`; * in version 2.6.3: added examples for each citation type (i.e., all the subproperties of `cito:cites`); * in version 2.6.4: added alignment with `schema:citation`; * in version 2.7.0: added new property `cito:linksTo`, and corrected some property URL; * in version 2.7.1: corrected some typos in property comments; * in version 2.7.2: the name of the class `cito:CitationAct` has been changed to `cito:Citation`, and its definition has been modified. The property `cito:hasCitationTimeSpan` has been added; * in version 2.7.3: added the class `cito:SelfCitation`, i.e. citation in which the citing and the cited entities have at least one author in common; * in version 2.8: renamed the class `cito:SelfCitation` in `cito:AuthorSelfCitation`. Created a new class `cito:SelfCitation` with a more general definition (citation in which the citing and the cited entities have something significant in common with one another), which now includes five subclasses: `cito:AuthorSelfCitation`, `cito:JournalSelfCitation`, `cito:FunderSelfCitation`, `cito:AffiliationSelfCitation`, `cito:AuthorNetworkSelfCitation`. The latter class is also accompanied by the new data property `cito:hasCoAuthorCitationLevel`, which specifies the minimal distance that one of the authors of a citing entity has with regards to one of the authors of a cited entity according to their co-author network. Added the object properties `cito:sharesPublicationVenueWith` and its subproperty `cito:sharesJournalWith`. Added the data property `cito:hasCitationCreationDate`, and changed the range of `cito:hasCitationTimeSpan` with `xsd:duration`. * in version 2.8.1: renamed the property `cito:hasCoAuthorCitationLevel` in `cito:hasCoAuthorshipCitationLevel`. # We share Galileo's opinion: the Earth moves [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:agreesWith :paperB . The citing entity agrees with statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. agrees with stable Example: We share Galileo's opinion: the Earth moves [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:cites :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity, either directly and explicitly (as in the reference list of a journal article), indirectly (e.g. by citing a more recent paper by the same group on the same topic), or implicitly (e.g. as in artistic quotations or parodies, or in cases of plagiarism). cites stable # Newton asserted that we are like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:citesAsAuthority :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity as one that provides an authoritative description or definition of the subject under discussion. cites as authority stable Example: Newton asserted that we are like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants [X]. # Italy has more than ten thousand kilometers of shoreline: see [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:citesAsDataSource :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity as source of data. cites as data source stable Example: Italy has more than ten thousand kilometers of shoreline: see [X]. # We found an unquestionable demonstration of our hypothesis in [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:citesAsEvidence :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity as source of factual evidence for statements it contains. cites as evidence stable Example: We found an unquestionable demonstration of our hypothesis in [X]. # Basic bibliographic entity and project metadata relating to this article recorded in a structured machine-readable form is available as an additional file [X] accompanying this paper. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:citesAsEvidence :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity as being the container of metadata describing the citing entity. cites as metadata document stable Example: Basic bibliographic, entity and project metadata relating to this article, recorded in a structured machine-readable form, is available as an additional file [X] accompanying this paper. # This risk could be avoided using the approach shown in [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:citesAsPotentialSolution :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity as providing or containing a possible solution to the issues being discussed. cites as potential solution stable Example: This risk could be avoided using the approach shown in [X]. # To our knowledge [X] is the best source of exercises about UML, making it a valuable proposal for beginners. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:citesAsRecommendedReading :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity as an item of recommended reading. cites as recommended reading stable Example: To our knowledge, [X] is the best source of exercises about UML, making it a valuable proposal for beginners. This property can be used, for example, to describe references in a lecture reading list, where the cited references are relevant to the general topic of the lecture, but might not be individually cited within the text of the lecture. Similarly, it could be used to describe items in a 'Suggested further reading' list at the end of a book chapter. # An analysis similar to what we proposed here is presented in [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:citesAsRelated :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity as one that is related. cites as related stable Example: An analysis similar to what we proposed here is presented in [X]. # Several sections of this work are based on our literature review of the topic published as journal article [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:citesAsSourceDocument :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity as being the entity from which the citing entity is derived, or about which the citing entity contains metadata. cites as source document stable Example: Several sections of this work are based on our literature review of the topic published as journal article [X]. # The grammar of Pascal was introduced in [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:citesForInformation :paperB . The citing entity cites the cited entity as a source of information on the subject under discussion. cites for information stable Example: The grammar of Pascal was introduced in [X]. # This book gathers interviews with academic researchers of several disciplines [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:compiles :paperB . The citing entity is used to create or compile the cited entity. compiles stable Example: This book gathers interviews with academic researchers of several disciplines [X]. Note: This property has been imported from the CiTO4Data ontology, usage of which has been deprecated. # Our findings are similar to those published in [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:confirms :paperB . The citing entity confirms facts, ideas or statements presented in the cited entity. confirms stable Example: Our findings are similar to those published in [X]. # We think that to stand on the top of giants [X] is a valuable principle to follow for our own research. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:containsAssertionFrom :paperB . The citing entity contains a statement of fact or a logical assertion (or a collection of such facts and/or assertions) originally present in the cited entity. contains assertion from stable Example: We think that to stand on the top of giants [X] is a valuable principle to follow for our own research. This object property is designed to be used to relate a separate abstract, summary or nanopublication to the cited entity upon which it is based. ## The result published in [X] is partially wrong, the correct result is 42. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:corrects :paperB . The citing entity corrects statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. corrects stable Example: The result published in [X] is partially wrong, the correct result is 42. # Galileo was the first to observe Jupiter's satellites [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:credits :paperB . The citing entity acknowledges contributions made by the cited entity. credits stable Example: Galileo was the first to observe Jupiter's satellites [X]. # The ideas presented in [X] are badly substantantiated. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:critiques :paperB . The citing entity critiques statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. critiques stable Example: The ideas presented in [X] are badly substantantiated. # The ideas published in [X] are incredibly stupid. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:derides :paperB . The citing entity express derision for the cited entity, or for ideas or conclusions contained within it. derides stable Example: The ideas published in [X] are incredibly stupid. # Galileo's book [X] is a dialog among three scientists about Copernicus' eliocentric theory. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:describes :paperB . The citing entity describes the cited entity. describes stable Example: Galileo's book [X] is a dialog among three scientists about Copernicus' eliocentric theory. # We do not share Galileo's opinion [X]: the Earth does not move. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:disagreesWith :paperB . The citing entity disagrees with statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. disagrees with stable Example: We do not share Galileo's opinion [X]: the Earth does not move. # We now examine if Galileo is right when he writes [X] that the Earth moves. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:discusses :paperB . The citing entity discusses statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. discusses stable Example: We now examine if Galileo is right when he writes [X] that the Earth moves. # We doubt that Galileo is right when he writes [X] that the Earth moves. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:disputes :paperB . The citing entity disputes statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. disputes stable Example: We doubt that Galileo is right when he writes [X] that the Earth moves. # Herein we report in detail the complete set of ontological rules defined in the Overlapping Ontology [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:documents :paperB . The citing entity documents information about the cited entity. documents stable Example: Herein we report in detail the complete set of ontological rules defined in the Overlapping Ontology [X]. # We add to Galileo's findings concerning the Earth [X] that also the Moon moves. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:extends :paperB . The citing entity extends facts, ideas or understandings presented in the cited entity. extends stable Example: We add to Galileo's findings concerning the Earth [X] that also the Moon moves. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:givesBackgroundTo :paperB . The cited entity provides background information for the citing entity. gives background to stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:givesSupportTo :paperB . The cited entity provides intellectual or factual support for the citing entity. gives support to stable :my-citation a cito:Citation ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; A property that links a citation to its characterization made by using a CiTO citation characterization property such as cito:extends. has citation characterization stable This usage involved OWL2 punning, whenby a CiTO object property, such as the aforementioned cito:extends, is used as the object of an OWL assertion. In such cases of OWL punning, the CiTO object properties are simultaneously considered both as normal object properties and also as proper named individuals of the class owl:Thing. :my-citation a cito:Citation ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . A property that relates a citation to the cited entity. has cited entity stable :my-citation a cito:Citation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA . A property that relates a citation to the citing entity. has citing entity stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:hasReplyFrom :paperB . The cited entity evokes a reply from the citing entity. has reply from stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:includesExcerptFrom :paperB . The citing entity includes one or more excerpts from the cited entity. includes excerpt from stable An excerpt is more general than a quotation. It is generally used to indicate a re-published extract from a book, instruction manual, film, radio programme, etc, that need not be what someone said. For example: Oxford 01865 Oxshott 01372 Oxted 01883 Oxton 01578 is an excerpt from the UK Dialling Codes section of the Oxford Telephone Directory. Example: In her work, the author states that even though most Human Information Behaviour researchers are familiar with the literature related to their studies, it is not uncommon for investigators to fail to see the benefits they may gain from previous mistakes [X]. # As Newton wrote in [X]: 'We are like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants' :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:includesQuotationFrom :paperB . The citing entity includes one or more quotations from the cited entity. includes quotation from stable A quotation is a repetition of what someone has said, and is presented 'within quotation marks', for example: On June 4th 1940, Winston Churchill made a speech on the radio that has since become famous, that included the words: ' . . . we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender . . .' Example: As Newton wrote in [X]: 'We are like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants'. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isAgreedWithBy :paperB . The cited entity contains statements, ideas or conclusions with which the citing entity agrees. is agreed with by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedAsAuthorityBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited as providing an authoritative description or definition of the subject under discussion in the citing entity. is cited as authority by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedAsDataSourceBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited as a data source by the citing entity. is cited as data source by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedAsEvidenceBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited for providing factual evidence to the citing entity. is cited as evidence by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedAsMetadataDocumentBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited as being the container of metadata relating to the citing entity. is cited as metadata document by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedAsPontentialSolutionBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited as providing or containing a possible solution to the issues being discussed in the citing entity. is cited as potential solution by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedAsRecommendedReadingBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited by the citing entity as an item of recommended reading. is cited as recommended reading by stable This property can be used, for example, to describe references in a lecture reading list, where the cited references are relevant to the general topic of the lecture, but might not be individually cited within the text of the lecture. Similarly, it could be used to describe items in a 'Suggested further reading' list at the end of a book chapter. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedAsRelatedBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited as being related to the citing entity. is cited as related by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedAsSourceDocumentBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited as being the entity from which the citing entity is derived, or about which the citing entity contains metadata. is cited as source document by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedBy :paperB . The cited entity (the subject of the RDF triple) is cited by the citing entity (the object of the triple). is cited by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCitedForInformationBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited as a source of information on the subject under discussion in the citing entity. is cited for information by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCompiledBy :paperB . The cited entity is the result of a compile or creation event using the citing entity. is compiled by stable Note: This property has been imported from the CiTO4Data ontology, usage of which has been deprecated. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isConfirmedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents facts, ideas or statements that are confirmed by the citing entity. is confirmed by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCorrectedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents statements, ideas or conclusions that are corrected by the citing entity. is corrected by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCreditedBy :paperB . The cited entity makes contributions that are acknowledged by the citing entity. is credited by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isCritiquedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents statements, ideas or conclusions that are critiqued by the citing entity. is critiqued by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isDeridedBy :paperB . The cited entity contains ideas or conclusions for which the citing entity express derision. is derided by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isDescribedBy :paperB . The cited entity is described by the citing entity. is described by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isDisagreedWithBy :paperB . The cited entity presents statements, ideas or conclusions that are disagreed with by the citing entity. is disagreed with by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isDiscussedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents statements, ideas or conclusions that are discussed by the citing entity. is discussed by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isDisputedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents statements, ideas or conclusions that are disputed by the citing entity. is disputed by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isDocumentedBy :paperB . Information about the cited entity is documented by the citing entity. is documented by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isExtendedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents facts, ideas or understandings that are extended by the citing entity. is extended by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isLinkedToBy :paperB . The cited entity is the target for an HTTP Uniform Resource Locator (URL) link within the citing entity. is linked to by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isParodiedBy :paperB . The characteristic style or content of the cited entity is imitated by the citing entity for comic effect, usually without explicit citation. is parodied by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isPlagiarizedBy :paperB . The cited entity is plagiarized by the author of the citing entity, who includes within the citing entity textual or other elements from the cited entity without formal acknowledgement of their source. The cited entity is thus not explicitly cited from within the citing entity, according to the norms of scholarly practice, but is cited implicitly. is plagiarized by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isQualifiedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents statements, ideas or conclusions that are qualified or have conditions placed upon them by the citing entity. is qualified by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isRefutedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents statements, ideas or conclusions that are refuted by the citing entity. is refuted by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isRetractedBy :paperB . The cited entity is formally retracted by the citing entity. is retracted by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isReviewedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents statements, ideas or conclusions that are reviewed by the citing entity. is reviewed by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isRidiculedBy :paperB . The cited entity or aspects of its contents are ridiculed by the citing entity. is ridiculed by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isSpeculatedOnBy :paperB . The cited entity is cited because the citing article contains speculations on its content or ideas. is speculated on by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isSupportedBy :paperB . The cited entity receives intellectual or factual support from the citing entity. is supported by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:isUpdatedBy :paperB . The cited entity presents statements, ideas, hypotheses or understanding that are updated by the cited entity. is updated by stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:likes :paperB . A property that permits you to express appreciation of or interest in something that is the object of the RDF triple, or to express that it is worth thinking about even if you do not agree with its content, enabling social media 'likes' statements to be encoded in RDF. Use of this property does NOT imply the existence of a formal citation of the entity that is 'liked'. likes stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:linksTo :paperB . The citing entity provides a link, in the form of an HTTP Uniform Resource Locator (URL), to the cited entity. links to stable Example: The BioSharing registry (https://biosharing.org) can be of use as it describes the standards in detail, including versions where applicable. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:obtainsBackgroundFrom :paperB . The citing entity obtains background information from the cited entity. obtains background from stable Example: There is a need for more observational studies and studies using narrative causation to describe the potential contribution of information in problem-solving and decision-making [X]; our work addresses these needs. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:obtainsSupportFrom :paperB . The citing entity obtains intellectual or factual support from the cited entity. obtains support from stable Example: Our ideas were also shared by Doe et al. [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:parodies :paperB . The citing entity imitates the characteristic style or content of the cited entity for comic effect, usually without explicit citation. parodies stable Example: We act as giants on the shoulders of dwarfs [X]! :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:plagiarizes :paperB . A property indicating that the author of the citing entity plagiarizes the cited entity, by including textual or other elements from the cited entity without formal acknowledgement of their source. The citing entity thus contains no explicit citation of the cited entity, according to the norms of scholarly practice, but cites it implicitly. plagiarizes stable Example: The conclusion of our dissertation can be summarised by the following motto, we created specifically for this purpose: we are like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:providesAssertionFor :paperB . The cited entity contains and is the original source of a statement of fact or a logical assertion (or a collection of such facts and/or assertions) that is to be found in the citing entity. This inverse object property is designed to be used to relate a cited entity to a separate abstract, summary or nanopublication based upon it. provides assertion for stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:providesConclusionsFor :paperB . The cited entity presents conclusions that are used in work described in the citing entity. provides conclusions for stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:providesDataFor :paperB . The cited entity presents data that are used in work described in the citing entity. provides data for stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:providesExcerptFor :paperB . The cited entity contains information, usually of a textual nature, that is excerpted by (used as an excerpt within) the citing entity. provides excerpt for stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:providesMethodFor :paperB . The cited entity details a method that is used in work described by the citing entity. provides method for stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:providesQuotationFor :paperB . The cited entity contains information, usually of a textual nature, that is quoted by (used as a quotation within) the citing entity. provides quotation for stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:qualifies :paperB . The citing entity qualifies or places conditions or restrictions upon statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. qualifies stable Example: Galileo's masterpiece 'Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi del mondo' [X] is formally a dialog and substantially a scientific pamphlet. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:refutes :paperB . The citing entity refutes statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. refutes stable Example: We do not think that all their arguments in favour of their own and against the other strategies are equally convincing [X]. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:repliesTo :paperB . The citing entity replies to statements, ideas or criticisms presented in the cited entity. replies to stable Example: We will not investigate the issues of the approach proposed in [X] here, but rather we introduce yet another alternative. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:retracts :paperB . The citing entity constitutes a formal retraction of the cited entity. retracts stable Example: We wrote that the Earth moves in [X]; we now retire such statement. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:reviews :paperB . The citing entity reviews statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. reviews stable Example: This paper discusses Toulmin's methodology in modelling argumentation [X], focussing on highlighting advantages and drawbacks of the application of such a methodology in the Social Web. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:ridicules :paperB . The citing entity ridicules the cited entity or aspects of its contents. ridicules stable Example: Galileo said that the Earth "moves" [X]; really? And where is it going? :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:sharesAuthorInstitutionWith :paperB . Each entity has at least one author that shares a common institutional affiliation with an author of the other entity. shares author institution with stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:sharesAuthorWith :paperB . Each entity has at least one author in common with the other entity. shares author with stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:sharesFundingAgencyWith :paperB . The two entities result from activities that have been funded by the same funding agency. shares funding agency with stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:sharesJournalWith :paperB . The citing and cited bibliographic resources are published in the same journal. shares journal with stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:sharesPublicationVenueWith :paperB . The citing and cited bibliographic resources are published in same publication venue. shares publication venue with stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:speculatesOn :paperB . The citing entity speculates on something within or related to the cited entity, without firm evidence. speculates on stable Example: We believe that if Galileo believed that Earth goes around the Sun [X], he also should believe that Moon goes around Earth. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:supports :paperB . The citing entity provides intellectual or factual support for statements, ideas or conclusions presented in the cited entity. supports stable Example: We support Galileo's statement [X], that Earth moves. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:updates :paperB . The citing entity updates statements, ideas, hypotheses or understanding presented in the cited entity. updates stable Example: Earth moves, said Galileo [X]; in addition, we can say now it moves very fast. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:usesConclusionsFrom :paperB . The citing entity describes work that uses conclusions presented in the cited entity. uses conclusions from stable Example: Building upon Galileo's findings [X], we discovered that all the planets move. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:usesDataFrom :paperB . The citing entity describes work that uses data presented in the cited entity. uses data from stable Example: Using the information collected from our recent study [X], we can estimate that there are tens of millions of HTML forms with potentially useful deep-web content. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:usesMethodIn :paperB . The citing entity describes work that uses a method detailed in the cited entity. uses method in stable Example: We follow [X] in using design patterns for testing. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; schema:citation :paperB . A citation or reference to another creative work, such as another publication, web page, scholarly article, etc. citation stable This property is defined in schema.org and has been added here to align schema.org with CiTO. The object property schema:citation expresses similar semantics to cito:cites except for the explicit definition of domain and range classes, that are schema:CreativeWork according to schema.org. For that reason, it is here defined as a subproperty of cito:cites. :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:hasCitationCreationDate '2025-06-16'^^xsd:date . The date on which the citation was created. This has the same numerical value as the publication date of the citing bibliographic resource, but is a property of the citation itself. When combined with the citation time span, it permits that citation to be located in history. has citation creation date stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:hasCitationTimeSpan 'P1Y'^^xsd:duration . The temporal characteristic of a citation, namely the interval between the publication date of the cited entity and the publication date of the citing entity. Note that when one or both of the publication dates is given as just 'year', then the citation time span is rounded to the nearest year, and when one or both of the publication dates is given as just 'year and month', then the citation time span is rounded to the nearest month, with the inherent inaccuracies that such rounding involves. has citation time span stable :paperA a fabio:JournalArticle ; cito:hasCoAuthorshipCitationLevel '2'^^xsd:positiveInteger . This property specifies the minimal distance that one of the authors of the citing entity has with regards to one of the authors of the cited entity, according to their co-authorship network. has co-authorship citation level stable For instance, a citation has a co-authorship citation level equal to 1 if at least one author of the citing entity has previously published as co-author with one of the authors of the cited entity. Similarly, we say that a citation has a co-authorship citation level equal to 2 if at least one author of the citing entity has previously published as co-author with someone who him/herself has previously published as co-author with one of the authors of the cited entity. And so on. # The following cito:AffiliationSelfCitation resource :thisCitation a cito:AffiliationSelfCitation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . # can be alternatively described as follows :paperA cito:extends :paperB . :paperA cito:sharesAuthorInstitutionWith :paperB . A citation in which at least one author from each of the citing and the cited entities is affiliated with the same academic institution. affilation self citation stable Like the ancestor class cito:Citation, cito:AffiliationSelfCitation and its accompanying object properties cito:hasCitingEntity, cito:hasCitedEntity and cito:hasCitationCharacterization can be employed to reify direct citation statements made using the CiTO citation object property cito:cites or one of its sub-properties, accompanied by an additional statement using cito:sharesAuthorInstitutionWith for linking the citing paper and the cited paper. 1 :thisCitation a cito:AuthorNetworkSelfCitation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCoAuthorshipCitationLevel '2'^^xsd:positiveInteger ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . A citation in which at least one author of the citing entity has direct or indirect co-authorship links with one of the authors of the cited entity. author network self citation stable Derived from the article 'A Small World of Citations? The Influence of Collaboration Networks on Citation Practices' by Matthew L. Wallace, Vincent Larivière and Yves Gingras, published in PLOS One (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033339). # The following cito:AuthorSelfCitation resource :thisCitation a cito:AuthorSelfCitation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . # can be alternatively described as follows :paperA cito:extends :paperB . :paperA cito:sharesAuthorWith :paperB . A citation in which the citing and the cited entities have at least one author in common. author self citation stable Like the ancestor class cito:Citation, cito:AuthorSelfCitation and its accompanying object properties cito:hasCitingEntity, cito:hasCitedEntity and cito:hasCitationCharacterization can be employed to reify direct citation statements made using the CiTO citation object property cito:cites or one of its sub-properties, accompanied by an additional statement using cito:sharesAuthorWith for linking the citing paper and the cited paper. 1 1 1 # The following RDF statement :paperA cito:extends :paperB . # can be alternatively described as follows :thisCitation a cito:Citation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . A citation is a conceptual directional link from a citing entity to a cited entity, created by a human performative act of making a citation, typically instantiated by the inclusion of a bibliographic reference (biro:BibliographicReference) in the reference list of the citing entity, or by the inclusion within the citing entity of a link, in the form of an HTTP Uniform Resource Locator (URL), to a resource on the World Wide Web. citation stable The time span of a citation, i.e. the interval between the publication year of the citing entity and the publication year of the cited entity, can be recorded using the data property cito:hasCitationTimeSpan. The nature or type of a citation can be characterized by using CiTO object properties, e.g. http://purl.org/spar/cito/citesAsDataSource (definition: “The citing entity cites the cited entity as a source of data”). This CiTO class cito:Citation and its accompanying object properties cito:hasCitingEntity, cito:hasCitedEntity and cito:hasCitationCharacterization can be employed to reify direct citation statements made using the CiTO citation object property cito:cites or one of its sub-properties. This usage involved OWL2 punning, whereby a CiTO object property, such as the aforementioned cito:extends, is used as the object of the OWL assertion. Using such OWL2 punning (described at http://www.w3.org/TR/2009/WD-owl2-new-features-20090611/#F12:_Punning), the CiTO object property is considered as a proper named individual of the class owl:Thing. Such reification of citation acts can be very useful, since it permits one to combine these CiTO properties with other vocabularies, or to handle situations in which none of the citation characterizations available in CiTO are applicable. Such situations can be resolved by the creation of a user-defined citation characterization, for example by using the Open Annotation Data Model, as explained at http://semanticpublishing.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/extending-cito-for-open-annotations/. :thisCitation a cito:DistantCitation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . A citation in which the citing and the cited entities have nothing significant in common with one another (for example authors, journal, institutional affiliation, or funding agency) over and beyond their subject matter. distant citation stable Derived from the article 'A Small World of Citations? The Influence of Collaboration Networks on Citation Practices' by Matthew L. Wallace, Vincent Larivière and Yves Gingras, published in PLOS One (https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0033339). # The following cito:FunderSelfCitation resource :thisCitation a cito:FunderSelfCitation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . # can be alternatively described as follows :paperA cito:extends :paperB . :paperA cito:sharesFundingAgencyWith :paperB . A citation in which the works reported in the citing and the cited entities were funded by the same funding agency. funder self citation stable Like the ancestor class cito:Citation, cito:FunderSelfCitation and its accompanying object properties cito:hasCitingEntity, cito:hasCitedEntity and cito:hasCitationCharacterization can be employed to reify direct citation statements made using the CiTO citation object property cito:cites or one of its sub-properties, accompanied by an additional statement using cito:sharesFundingAgencyWith for linking the citing paper and the cited paper. :thisCitation a cito:JournalCartelCitation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . A citation from one journal to another journal which forms one of a very large number of citations from the citing journal to recent articles in the cited journal, possibly undertaken as part of a citation cartel for the purpose of gaming the impact factor of the cited journal. journal cartel citation stable Derived from the blog post 'What do we know about journal citation cartels? A call for information' by Philippe Mongeon, Ludo Waltman and Sarah de Rijcke (https://www.cwts.nl/blog?article=n-q2w2b4). # The following cito:AffiliationSelfCitation resource :thisCitation a cito:AffiliationSelfCitation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . # can be alternatively described as follows :paperA cito:extends :paperB . :paperA cito:sharesAuthorInstitutionWith :paperB . A citation in which the citing and the cited entities are published in the same journal. journal self citation stable Like the ancestor class cito:Citation, cito:JournalSelfCitation and its accompanying object properties cito:hasCitingEntity, cito:hasCitedEntity and cito:hasCitationCharacterization can be employed to reify direct citation statements made using the CiTO citation object property cito:cites or one of its sub-properties, accompanied by an additional statement using cito:sharesJournalWith for linking the citing paper and the cited paper. Derived from the blog post 'Journal self-citations are increasingly biased toward impact factor years' by Ludo Waltman and Caspar Chorus (https://www.cwts.nl/blog?article=n-q2x264). :thisCitation a cito:SelfCitation ; cito:hasCitingEntity :paperA ; cito:hasCitationCharacterization cito:extends ; cito:hasCitedEntity :paperB . A citation in which the citing and the cited entities have something significant in common with one another, over and beyond their subject matter, for example authors, journal, institutional affiliation, or funding agency. self citation stable