Paving a pathway through a terminological jungle

Owing to the need to organize information in nearly every discipline, KOSs with varying attributes, content and structures have been developed independently in different domains. These scattered and independent developments have given rise to a conglomeration of classificationrelated terms which tend to be used inconsistently in some research fields, and even more so across different research fields. Jacob (2010) argues that there is a need to assess the terminology of classification, and for a methodical and critical assessment of the criteria governing the development and implementation of classifications.