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The Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) is a small, upper level ontology that is designed for use in supporting information retrieval, analysis and integration in scientific and other domains. BFO is a genuine upper ontology. Thus it does not contain physical, chemical, biological or other terms which would properly fall within the coverage domains of the special sciences. BFO is used by more than 550 ontology-driven endeavors throughout the world.
The BFO project was initiated in 2002 under the auspices of the projectForms of Life sponsored by theVolkswagen Foundation. The theory behind BFO was developed first byBarry Smith andPierre Grenon and presented in a series of publications listedhere.
Since then major contributions to BFO have been made above all byAlan Ruttenberg, also by many others, including:
...and by more than a hundred other members of theBFO Discussion Group.
BFO Release History
BFO YouTube Channel
BFO User Forums
BFO Textbook Published by MIT Press
BFO in Portuguese
