Use of existing ontology elements in ontology construction: presenting and testing a systematic merge-based method

Integration of existing ontologies is an approach for reusing ontology elements in construction of a new ontology. Researchers have proposed various tools and methods for ontology merging; but very few of them work in an integrated manner with a comprehensive ontology construction methodology and also none of them support Persian language. In this paper, we proposed a systematic merge-based method for reusing ontology elements with Persian support in ontology construction. Proposed method built based on the design science research method. The process and algorithms of proposed method implemented and improved based on general cycle of design science method. Proposed method used to create a reference ontology for educational and research organizations in the subset of Iranian ministry of science, research and technology. Final product evaluated and verified by a gold standard. An ontology merge method based on reuse of ontology elements and a higher education ontology are main products of this research.