METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DISAMBIGUATING INFORMATIONAL OBJECTS

• US 20110282890A1
• Filed: 05/28/2011
• Published: 11/17/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Camelot UK Bidco Limited (Clarivate Plc)
• Original Assignee: Thomson Reuters Global Resources
• Inventors: Griffith, Robert A.
• Granted Patent: US 9,183,290 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/758
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/24573 using data annotations, e.g. user-defined metadata
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/285 Clustering or classification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/288 Entity relationship models
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/3322 using system suggestions G06F16/3325 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/355 Class or cluster creation or modification
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/382 using citations hypermedia G06F16/94

Abstract

The present invention provides a Distinct Author Identification System (“DAIS”) for disambiguating data to discern author entities and link or associate authorships with such author entities. The invention provides powerful disambiguation processes applied across one or more databases to yield a disambiguated authority database of authors. An entire database of publications may be processed by the DAIS to group/link authorships and to identify author entities. The author entities may then be matched or associated with actual authors to establish an authority database of authors. After initial evaluation, the DAIS may be used to reevaluate some or all of the database(s) and/or the authority database established by the DAIS may be used to add or update information. DAIS may use “hierarchical clustering” to link authorships and identify authors based on authorship similarity. DAIS evaluates the likelihood that authorships are from the same author.

Claims

1. A content management system in communication with one or more publications databases, each comprising a plurality of publications, and with a plurality of remote users, the content management system comprising:

a disambiguation computer;

a disambiguation database operatively connected to the disambiguation computer and adapted to receive and store for processing by the disambiguation computer at least a first set of information derived from one or more publications databases each comprising a plurality of publications with each publication having at least one cited reference and one or more authorships;

an authorship similarity routine executing on the disambiguation computer and adapted to process at least some of the first set of electronic information based on cited reference data from the plurality of publications to determine a degree of authorship similarity;

a linking routine executing on the disambiguation computer and adapted to link authorships based on the degree of authorship similarity; and

a clustering routine executing on the disambiguation computer and adapted to cluster two or more linked authorships to form a first cluster and adapted to form a first author entity associated with the first cluster, whereby the clustering routine is executed to produce an authority database of authors operatively stored on the disambiguation database and comprised of a plurality of unique author entities each associated with a unique actual author and a cluster.

2. The content management system of claim 1, wherein a plurality of remote users each access the authority database of authors using a client-based computer and submit queries against the authority database of authors, whereby the query terms are processed and the client is presented with disambiguated data.

3. The computer-based system of claim 2, wherein the remote users using client-based computers in conjunction with a research productivity software may access and query the disambiguation database and publications databases to develop bibliographic data records.

4. The computer-based system of claim 3, wherein the disambiguation database includes hyperlink data associating authorships with electronic publications records contained on the one or more publications databases.

5. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a. receiving a set of electronic information associated with a set of publications, each publication in the set of publications comprising at least one cited reference and having at least one authorship;

b. comparing at least a portion of the set of electronic information with authorship data contained in an authority database, the authorship data related to authorship entities represented in the authority database; and

c. associating the set of electronic information with one or more authorship entities.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

linking the at least one authorship to the one or more authorship entities based on determining an authorship similarity between the at least one authorship and the one or more authorship entities.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein each authorship entity is associated with a cluster of authorships and further comprising:

adding the at least one authorship to the authority database and to at least one cluster of authorships.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the one or more authorship entities were previously defined at least in part using a disambiguation process and previously stored in the authority database, and the set of electronic information is received subsequent to the disambiguation and storing process, the at least one authorship being linked to a previously defined cluster of authorships.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

receiving a manual input confirming the linking of the at least one authorship with the previously defined cluster of authorships.

10. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

receiving a manual input for confirming an association of an authorship with an authorship entity.

11. The method of claim 5, wherein associating includes:

receiving a manual input concerning associating the set of electronic information with the one or more authorship entities.

12. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

sending an electronic communication to an email address associated with an authorship entity.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the electronic communication includes a link to enable inputting of a signal confirming an association of an authorship with an authorship entity stored in the authority database.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the electronic communication indicates a potential match of an authorship with an authorship entity stored in the authority database.

15. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

upon associating, storing the set of electronic information in the authority database.

16. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

receiving a query related to the one or more authorship entities; and

presenting authorship data in response to the query.

17. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

in response to presenting, receiving a signal confirming author entity data stored at the authority database.

18. The method of claim 16 further comprising:

maintaining an author profile record associated with a unique author identifier and a cluster of authorships associated with the unique author identifier, the author profile being stored at the authority database.

19. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

providing a secure account for electronically accessing data associated with a unique author identifier;

upon secure account access, presenting author entity data associated with the unique author identifier stored at the authority database in response to receiving a request for information.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising:

linking at least one additional authorship to an existing cluster of authorships associated with the unique author identifier in response to a received input associated with the unique author identifier; and

storing data representing the linking in an authority database of authors.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the authority database of authors includes a plurality of unique author entity records each associated with a unique actual author and a cluster.

22. A computer-implemented method comprising:

a. presenting data representing a set of publications to a user;

b. providing a user interface for allowing a user to input a selection related to authorship of one or more of the set of publications; and

c. updating an authority database to reflect an association of a unique author with the selection related to authorship of one or more of the set of publications.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

prior to updating the authority database, verifying the association of the unique author with the selected one or more of the set of publications based at least in part on an authorship similarity between data associated with the unique author and a set of one or more authorship entities.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

receiving a query from a user and presenting the data representing a set of publications in response to the query.

25. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

generating an electronic message addressed to an electronic mail address associated with the unique author.

26. The method of claim 22, wherein presenting includes notice of a possible erroneous match of a unique author with at least one authorship and, based on a response to the notice, doing one of associating and disassociating the unique author from at least one of an authorship, a cluster, or an author entity.

27. The method of claim 22, wherein prior to presenting, disambiguating authorship data related to the set of publications.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein disambiguating includes scoring an authorship similarity attribute.

29. The method of claim 27, wherein the scored authorship similarity attribute is based at least in part on co-authorship data comprising the number of authorships associated with publications, wherein as the number of co-authorships increases, the degree of similarity associated with the co-authorship data decreases.

30. The method of claim 22, wherein disambiguating comprises processing at least one of the following elements:

email address;

co-author data;

address data;

paper title;

cited reference author name;

cited by paper;

cited by author name;

keywords;

Publication Discipline Code;

co-citation;

bibliographic coupling;

self cite; and

additional author name initial data.

31. A computer-based system comprising:

a computer adapted to process a set of electronic information associated with a set of publications, each publication in the set of publications comprising at least one cited reference and having at least one authorship;

software executing on the computer and adapted to;

a. receive a set of electronic information associated with a set of publications;

b. compare at least a portion of the set of electronic information with authorship data contained in an authority database, the authorship data related to authorship entities represented in the authority database; and

c. associate the set of electronic information with one or more authorship entities.

32. The system of claim 31, wherein the software is further adapted to:

link the at least one authorship to the one or more authorship entities based on determining an authorship similarity between the at least one authorship and the one or more authorship entities.

33. The system of claim 31, wherein each authorship entity is associated with a cluster of authorships and wherein the software is further adapted to:

add the at least one authorship to the authority database and to at least one cluster of authorships.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the one or more authorship entities were previously defined at least in part using a disambiguation process and previously stored in the authority database, and the set of electronic information is received subsequent to the disambiguation and storing process, the at least one authorship being linked to a previously defined cluster of authorships.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein the software is further adapted to:

receive a manual input confirming the linking of the at least one authorship with the previously defined cluster of authorships.

36. The method of claim 34, wherein the software is further adapted to:

receive a manual input for confirming an association of an authorship with an authorship entity.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein the software is further adapted to:

receive a manual input concerning associating the set of electronic information with the one or more authorship entities.

38. The system of claim 31, wherein the software is further adapted to:

send an electronic communication to an email address associated with an authorship entity.

39. The system of claim 38, wherein the electronic communication includes a link to enable inputting of a signal confirming an association of an authorship with an authorship entity stored in the authority database.

40. The system of claim 38, wherein the electronic communication indicates a potential match of an authorship with an authorship entity stored in the authority database.

41. The method of claim 31, wherein the software is further adapted to:

store the set of electronic information in the authority database.

42. The system of claim 31, wherein the software is further adapted to:

receive a query related to the one or more authorship entities; and

present authorship data in response to the query.

43. The system of claim 42, wherein the software is further adapted to:

receive a signal confirming author entity data stored at the authority database.

44. The system of claim 42, wherein the software is further adapted to:

maintain an author profile record associated with a unique author identifier and a cluster of authorships associated with the unique author identifier, the author profile being stored at the authority database.

45. The system of claim 31, wherein the software is further adapted to:

provide a secure account for electronically accessing data associated with a unique author identifier;

confirm secure account access and present author entity data associated with the unique author identifier stored at the authority database in response to receiving a request for information.

46. The system of claim 45, wherein the software is further adapted to:

link at least one additional authorship to an existing cluster of authorships associated with the unique author identifier in response to a received input associated with the unique author identifier; and

store data representing the linking in an authority database of authors.

47. The system of claim 46, wherein the authority database of authors includes a plurality of unique author entity records each associated with a unique actual author and a cluster.

48. A computer implemented method for maintaining an authority database of authors, the method comprising:

a. receiving from a user data representing a user-defined set of publications each having at least one authorship and related to a unique author;

b. recognizing the received data as being associated with a researcher identifier;

c. using an authority database, verifying the received data to render a threshold confirmation of correctness in association of the set of publications with the unique author;

d. doing one or the other of

     1) matching the unique author with an existing unique author profile record stored by the authority database;

or

     2) creating a new unique author profile record and storing the new unique author profile record by the authority database.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the existing unique author profile record includes a cluster of a set of authorships of a set of publications attributed to a unique author represented by the unique author profile record.

50. The method of claim 48, wherein the unique author profile record resulted from:

receiving publications, each publication containing at least one cited reference and having at least one authorship; and

disambiguating the received publications by comparing the at least one cited references with data associated with the authority database of authors to determine an authorship similarity between publication authorships.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein disambiguating includes:

scoring an authorship similarity; and

linking authorships based on the determined authorship similarity and clustering two or more linked authorships to form a first cluster and forming a first author entity associated with the first cluster.

52. The method of claim 51, wherein disambiguating includes:

matching the first author entity with a first actual author, the first cluster of authorships being attributable to the first actual author, and repeating the clustering step to form a plurality of clusters respectively associated with a plurality of unique author entities; and

incorporating into the authority database of authors the plurality of unique author entities each associated with a unique actual author and a cluster.

53. A computer-based system comprising:

a computer adapted to process a set of electronic information associated with a set of publications, each publication in the set of publications comprising at least one cited reference and having at least one authorship;

software executing on the computer and adapted to;

a. receive from a user data representing a user-defined set of publications each having at least one authorship and related to a unique author;

b. recognize the received data as being associated with a researcher identifier;

c. accessing an authority database and verifying the received data to render a threshold confirmation of correctness in association of the set of publications with the unique author;

d. process the received data to do one or the other of

     1) match the unique author with an existing unique author profile record stored by the authority database;

or

     2) create a new unique author profile record and storing the new unique author profile record by the authority database.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the existing unique author profile record includes a cluster of a set of authorships of a set of publications attributed to a unique author represented by the unique author profile record.

55. The system of claim 53, wherein the unique author profile record resulted from:

receiving publications, each publication containing at least one cited reference and having at least one authorship; and

disambiguating the received publications by comparing the at least one cited references with data associated with the authority database of authors to determine an authorship similarity between publication authorships.

56. The system of claim 55, wherein disambiguating includes:

scoring an authorship similarity; and

linking authorships based on the determined authorship similarity and clustering two or more linked authorships to form a first cluster and forming a first author entity associated with the first cluster.

57. The system of claim 56, wherein disambiguating includes:

matching the first author entity with a first actual author, the first cluster of authorships being attributable to the first actual author, and repeating the clustering step to form a plurality of clusters respectively associated with a plurality of unique author entities; and

incorporating into the authority database of authors the plurality of unique author entities each associated with a unique actual author and a cluster.