Figure 1

Workflow for the computational evaluation of the quality of terms and definitions in controlled vocabularies. Definitions are considered to be circular if they have a circularity index C ≥ 0.5 (see section "Circularity Index") and as intelligible if they have an intelligibility index I ≤ 0.7 (see section "Intelligibility Index").

The results of applying this workflow to the Gene Ontology are available in the Additional files:

A circularity of definition: A1 (see Additional file 1) – Circular definitions (circularity index ≥ 0.5), A2 (see Additional file 2) – Non-circular definitions (circularity index < 0.5)

B intelligibility of definition: B1 (see additional file 3) – Unintelligible definitions (intelligibility index < 0.7), B2 (see Additional file 4) – Intelligible definitions (intelligibility index ≥ 0.7)

C intelligibility of term: C1 (see Additional file 5) – Unintelligible terms (intelligibility index < 0.7), C1a (see Additional file 6) – Unintelligible terms with proposed alternative definitions (intelligibility index < 0.7), C2 (see Additional file 7) – Intelligible terms (intelligibility index ≥ 0.7).