The ETHICSWEB Application Profile for Sharing Information on Knowledge Organization Systems (ETHICSWEB AP for KOS) is a set of metadata elements, policies, and guidelines defined to enhance the description, exchange and retrieval of knowledge organization systems (KOS) in the field of ethics and science.

The ETHICSWEB metadata schema describes the various properties of KOS which are relevant for ethics and science. Used as a common exchange format, the metadata schema is for example the structural basis of the XML schema and the KOS registry to collect and provide metadata of heterogeneous KOS under one virtual roof.

The ETHICSWEB metadata elements for KOS derive from resources such as the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI), the Agricultural Information Management Standards (FAO), the AGRIS Application Profile (FAO), the ETHICSWEB Application Profile for Sharing Information on Document-Like Information Objects and the compilation of several KOS metadata schemas by Golub and Tudhope. The namespace ETSKOS provides elements or sub-elements required for KOS that cannot be taken and reused from current namespaces.

The corresponding XML schema for KOS is available here.