Ontology Cohesion and Coupling Metrics

Abstract

Cohesion and coupling metrics for a modular ontology provide an insight into the efficiency of the modularization technique employed. Most of such metrics are either syntax based or do not account for ontology hierarchy. The authors propose cohesion and coupling metrics with continuous scale of measurement for modular ontology via deducing the degree of dependence among ontology components, thereby, handling structural aspects of ontology. The proposed metrics further handle the subtle differences between the type of links. The metrics have been analytically validated using well-established frameworks and the experimental results compared with the existing works, in terms of their cohesion and coupling values as well as the features of ontologies that they can measure. The proposed metrics are unambiguous and can be applied to any type of ontology in order to facilitate the assessment of the quality of an ontology or a partition thereof.