Preclinical DataCite Ontology (PCDO)
type: Ontology
description: A minimal, reusable ontology capturing preclinical study semantics aligned to DataCite for DOI deposition.
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
version IRI: https://w3id.org/preclindo/ontology/pcdo/0.1.0

Dataset
type: Class
comment: The DOI-minted dataset deliverable.
IAO_0000115: A collection of data intended for publication and citation via a persistent identifier (e.g., DOI), accompanied by descriptive metadata.
subclass of: Dataset

Study
type: Class
comment: A preclinical investigation comprising cohorts, interventions, assays, and outcomes.
IAO_0000115: An investigation in which preclinical subjects are assigned to interventions and measured via assays to assess outcome measures.
subclass of: OBI_0000066

Cohort
type: Class
comment: Group of subjects with shared characteristics and treatment.
IAO_0000115: A collection of subjects grouped by shared attributes (e.g., sex, strain) and/or assigned intervention within a study.

Subject
type: Class
comment: An experimental animal subject (organism).
IAO_0000115: An individual organism serving as the unit of assignment and observation in a preclinical study.
subclass of: OBI_0100026
disjoint with: Intervention
disjoint with: Assay
disjoint with: Observation

Intervention
type: Class
comment: A planned process such as a drug administration or procedure.
IAO_0000115: A planned process applied to a subject or cohort (e.g., administration of a chemical agent or a surgical procedure).
subclass of: OBI_0000011

Assay
type: Class
comment: An assay used to generate observations (measurements).
IAO_0000115: A planned process that implements a method to measure or detect an outcome measure.
subclass of: OBI_0000070

Outcome Measure
type: Class
comment: An observable property measured as a study outcome.
IAO_0000115: A property or variable selected as an endpoint to evaluate the effect of an intervention (e.g., blood glucose level, tumor volume).
subclass of: ObservableProperty

Observation
type: Class
comment: A concrete observation linking an assay to a feature of interest and result.
IAO_0000115: A measurement instance produced by an assay on a feature of interest at a time, possibly with a result value.
subclass of: Observation

Sample
type: Class
comment: A specimen derived from a subject.
IAO_0000115: A material entity collected from a subject for analysis (e.g., blood, tissue).
subclass of: OBI_0000747

Ethics Approval
type: Class
comment: An institutional ethics approval document or identifier.
IAO_0000115: A document or identifier indicating that the study protocol received required institutional ethics approval.
subclass of: IAO_0000311

describes study
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Dataset
range: Study

has ethics approval
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Dataset
range: Ethics Approval

has cohort
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Study
range: Cohort

has assay
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Study
range: Assay

has outcome measure
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Study
range: Outcome Measure

has subject
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Cohort
range: Subject

has species
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Subject
comment: Link to an NCBITaxon IRI.

has strain
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Subject

has sex
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Subject
comment: Link to a PATO sex class (male/female/unknown).

applies to cohort
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Intervention
range: Cohort

has agent
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Intervention
comment: The active agent, e.g., a CHEBI chemical.

has route
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Intervention

has schedule
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Intervention

observes
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Assay
range: Outcome Measure

age in days
type: DatatypeProperty
domain: Subject
range: integer

body weight (g)
type: DatatypeProperty
domain: Subject
range: decimal

dose value
type: DatatypeProperty
domain: Intervention
range: decimal

has dose unit
type: ObjectProperty
domain: Intervention
comment: Link to a QUDT unit IRI (e.g., unit:MilliGM).

route label
type: DatatypeProperty
domain: Intervention
range: string

schedule label
type: DatatypeProperty
domain: Intervention
range: string

is randomized
type: DatatypeProperty
domain: Study
range: boolean

is blinded
type: DatatypeProperty
domain: Study
range: boolean

sample size
type: DatatypeProperty
domain: Study
range: integer