Semantic Web: A Context for Medical Knowledge Discovering and Sharing

Introduction: This article will discuss Semantic Web standards and ontologies in two areas: (1) the research and (2) healthcare. Semantic Web standards are important in the medical sciences since much of the medical research that is available needs an avenue to be shared across disparate computer systems. Material and Methods: This review article was performed based on a literature review and internet search through scientific databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and Web of science and Google Scholar. Results: Ontologies can provide a basis for the searching of context-based medical research information so that it can be integrated and used as a foundation for future research. The healthcare industry will be examined specifically in its use of electronic health records (EHR), which need Semantic Web standards to be communicated across different EHR systems. Conclusion: The increased use of EHRs across healthcare organizations will also require ontologies to support context-sensitive searching of information, as well as creating context-based rules for appointments, procedures, and tests so that the quality of healthcare is improved. Literature in these areas has been combined in this article to provide a general view of how Semantic Web standards and ontologies are used, and to give examples of applications in the areas of healthcare and the medical sciences.