Identifiers as filters

[mbaudis]

A filter sent to a beacon as part of the request is defined as

    anyOf:
      - $ref: '#/$defs/OntologyFilter'
      - $ref: '#/$defs/AlphanumericFilter'
      - $ref: '#/$defs/CustomFilter'  

... where an OntologyFilter has the description to Filter results to include records that contain a specific ontology term.; and the OntologyFilter.id is the Term ID to be queried, using CURIE syntax where possible..

However, this leaves the problem of stable identifiers which are not part of ontologies on the "classical sense" but essential for many types of queries and fulfill the CURIE part with registration at identifiers.org et al. Examples:

• pubmed:35297548
• cellosaurus:CVCL_0030 (cell line identifiers - have actually a hierarchy...)

Action Item

• Option A: Extend the definition of OntologyFilter to ... ontology term or identifier - easy and implementers do it like that anyway
• Option B: Define a dedicated '#/$defs/IdentifierFilter' ... which follows the OntologyFilter definition (I guess minus "similarity")

In practice both options would be non-breaking changes.