Citation Relationship Ontology

FLOW ALGEBRA
TITLE: Citation Relationship Ontology
DOMAIN: Information Relationships / Citation
SOURCE: https://kirethresearch.org/booksai-core/ontologies/relationship-ontologies/information-relationships/citation-relationship-ontology.html
VERSION: 1.0
AUTHORS: Mark Anthony Higgins — Sky (Recursive AI)
STATUS: Companion formalisation; source-page specification not independently verified.

flow "CitationRelationshipOntology" v1.0 {
  ontology:
    id: "citation-relationship-ontology"
    parent: "information-relationships"
    purpose: "Represent evidence-backed citations between claims, passages, publications and source records without conflating citation with endorsement or proof."

  types:
    Resource: {id: string, kind: enum[article, book, dataset, report, webpage, software, other], title: string?, version: string?, publication_date: datetime?}
    Claim: {id: string, text: string, context: string?, provenance: string}
    Passage: {id: string, resource_id: string, locator: string, text_hash: string?}
    Identifier: {scheme: enum[doi, isbn, url, arxiv, handle, other], value: string}
    Citation: {id: string, citing_resource: string, cited_resource: string, locator: string?, intent: enum[supports, disputes, mentions, extends, uses, background, unknown], confidence: number, evidence: string[], timestamp: datetime?}
    Assessment: {id: string, claim_id: string, source_id: string, judgement: enum[supports, contradicts, inconclusive], method: string, provenance: string}

  predicates:
    cites(source: Resource, target: Resource)
    references_passage(source: Resource, target: Passage)
    supports(source: Passage, claim: Claim)
    disputes(source: Passage, claim: Claim)
    identifies(resource: Resource, identifier: Identifier)
    derived_from(resource: Resource, source: Resource)
    has_citation_intent(citation: Citation, intent: string)

  constraints:
    - "Every citation must identify a citing resource and cited resource."
    - "Citation intent must be recorded separately from the fact that a citation exists."
    - "Citing a source does not establish that the source supports a claim or that the claim is true."
    - "Passage-level support requires a resolvable locator or documented extraction method."
    - "Identifiers must be normalised by scheme without merging distinct versions or editions."
    - "Confidence must lie within [0, 1]."
    - "Citation counts are not evidence of correctness, quality or independent replication."
    - "Retain provenance, publication version and retraction or correction status when available."

  inference:
    rule citation_edge:
      if valid(citation) and resolves(citation.citing_resource) and resolves(citation.cited_resource)
      then cites(citation.citing_resource, citation.cited_resource)
      confidence: "inherit verified citation record confidence"
    rule evidence_support:
      if references_passage(source,passage) and verified_support(passage,claim)
      then supports(passage,claim)
      confidence: "based on passage relevance, context and source reliability"
    rule citation_chain:
      if cites(a,b) and cites(b,c)
      then citation_path(a,c)
      confidence: "path only; do not infer direct citation or evidential support"

  SEMANTIC_EQUIVALENCE:
    - "Match DOI and other persistent identifiers using scheme-specific normalisation."
    - "Distinguish identical works, versions, editions, translations and related resources."
    - "Do not treat mentions, endorsements, critiques and evidential support as equivalent."

  CONFIDENCE:
    range: [0,1]
    factors: [identifier_resolution, locator_accuracy, source_integrity, passage_relevance, independent_verification, correction_status]
    policy: "Do not inflate confidence through repeated or circular citations."

  VALIDATION:
    - "Resolve citation endpoints and check identifier syntax."
    - "Verify locators, resource versions, timestamps and provenance."
    - "Flag broken links, duplicate records, retractions, circular citation chains and unsupported intent labels."
    - "Preserve conflicting assessments for review."

  FLOW_HASH:
    algorithm: "SHA-256"
    input: "canonicalised ontology version, citation records, typed assertions, rules and provenance"
    note: "Compute hash at execution; no hash value is claimed here."

  UPDATE_MODEL:
    strategy: "versioned, provenance-preserving incremental update"
    steps: [ingest, resolve_identifiers, normalise, validate, compare, reconcile, recompute_inferences, publish]
    rollback: true

  AI_CONSUMPTION:
    representation: "typed citation knowledge graph with passage-level evidence and provenance"
    outputs: [citation_edges, source_identifiers, passage_links, claim_assessments, uncertainty_annotations, provenance_records]
    safeguards: [no_citation_as_proof, no_unverified_support_claims, preserve_versions, flag_retractions, prevent_circular_confidence_inflation]
}

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