The development of facet analysis approach in knowledge organization: a 100-Year Review

Facet analysis approach (FAA) has exhibited a continuous growth trend since the early 20th century. The present paper is aimed to systematically review the studies and documents of the faceted organization plans as well as thematic and temporal classification of these works. This review led to the identification of the growth and development trends of applying this approach in the information organization and retrieval tools, followed by providing some suggestions for researchers in future works. Accordingly, the steps to be taken in the present work were as follows: The first step included a comprehensive search in relevant references as well as a primary review of the documents, followed by classification and refinement of the documents in the second step. The third step addressed temporal and thematic classification of the documents, analysis of the literature, and identification of the existing gaps. In the final step, some suggestions were provided for covering these gaps. The outcomes of the previous works included the development of faceted rankings, faceted glossaries and headings, and faceted information retrieval systems, the extensive use of which continued until 1990s. Subsequently, with the development of computer systems and web, the facets took another role in the retrieval of the data available in the database. During this period, a set of models, faceted metadata, faceted user interfaces, and faceted ontologies was made, which was followed by the development of several software in this field. The facet analysis approach has been developing since the early 20th century to 1990 based on the logical system (a priori) of science classification. However, since then, due to the development of the computer capabilities and growth of the users' needs, the logical perspective was replaced by the computational and user-oriented (a posteriori) perspective. Creating the structure of facets in semantic web environments and formulation of new standards, utilizing more effective methods to perceive user behaviors, and taking historical development and changes of sciences into account are the gaps that still require further studies. Covering these gaps promises sustainable effectiveness of the facet analysis process in future.