IEEE P3195 Ontology Standards Working Group

The IEEE Ontology Standards Working Group is currently assigned to four IEEE standards development projects listed below. Each project has some technical specialization so OSWG has delegated draft standard development Stage 2  and Stage 3 to these project groups. Each group meets regularly to create their draft standard. Each project group votes for consensus on content and structure until a draft is ready for technical review by OSWG.  The voting members of the project group may be considered as authors. When OSWG technical review is satisfied by a final ballot, theses balloters may be considered as contributors. OSWG Chair then submits the working group approved draft for Stage 4 and Stage 5 (IEEE editorial review, Balloting and Public Review). OSWG then assists the project group to respond to IEEE comments and concerns. When the draft is approved and published, it enters Stage 6, the standard maintenance period, of up to ten years.

To learn more about the IEEE Standards Association standards development process and its phases, click here.

Three of these projects have open source materials incorporated in the standard which require special handling. IEEE policy and procedure require a special team called the Open Source Leadership Subgroup to be formed to assist project teams and the Working Group with all open source project details.

Click these links to learn more about IEEE SA Open and project maintenance.

OSWG is in the process of updating its Policy and Procedure. When approved, a link will be provided.

Approved Project Authorization Requests and Project Subgroups:

P3195 – Standard for Requirements for a Mid-Level Ontology and Extensions

  • Specifies the requirements for a mid-level ontology and for the creation of conforming extensions and modules (i.e., subsets) therefrom. A mid-level ontology is a set of well-defined terms and relations used across multiple domains, which enables conforming extensions for specific domains or applications. It extends from (and conforms to) a top-level ontology (as generally described in ISO/IEC-JTC1-21838-1 Information technology — Top-level ontologies (TLO)Part 1: Requirements)
  • To learn more, please see IEEE P3195
  • To be connected with this project subgroup please also express interest here.

P3195.1 – Standard for a Common Core Ontology (CCO)

  • Conforms to and extends from ISO/IEC-JTC1-21838-2 Basic Formal Ontology
  • Defines a mid-level ontology that specifies a set of well-defined terms and relations commonly used across multiple domains. It enables conforming extension ontologies to re-use these terms and introduce only the more specific terms and relations of their respective domains.
  • To learn more, please see IEEE P3195.1 
  • To be connected with this project subgroup please also express interest here.
  • IEEE SA Open – P3195.1 Project site (Under construction 10/16/2025)

P3195.1.1 – Standard for Cyber Ontology

  • Defines a conforming domain extension of P3195.1 Standard for Common Core Ontology. It specifies well-defined terms and relations for the domain of Cyber, which are too specific to be included in the Common Core Ontology.
  • To learn more, please see IEEE P3195.1.1
  • To be connected with this project subgroup please also express interest here.
  • IEEE SA Open – P3195.1.1 Project site (Under construction 10/16/2025)

P3195.1.2 – Person Ontology

  • Defines a conforming domain extension of P3195.1 Standard for Common Core Ontology. It specifies terms and definitions, and relationships amongst them, for the domain of the natural person, which are too specific to be included in the Common Core Ontology.
  • To learn more, please see IEEE P3195.1.2
  • To be connected with this project subgroup please also express interest here.
  • IEEE SA Open – P3195.1.2 Project site (Under construction 10/16/2025)

Any questions, please contact OSWG Chair [email protected] 

Updated 2025-10-19.