# WShEx: A language to describe and validate Wikibase entities

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.02697 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.02697/

## Key facts

- Cited by 3 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 4 Aug 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 3 of 3)

- [Common Foundations for SHACL, ShEx, and PG-Schema](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2502.01295/) (2025)
- [Schema Generation for Large Knowledge Graphs Using Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.04512/) (2025)
- [KIF: A Wikidata-Based Framework for Integrating Heterogeneous Knowledge Sources](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.10304/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Wikidata is one of the most successful Semantic Web projects. Its underlying Wikibase data model departs from RDF with the inclusion of several features like qualifiers and references, built-in datatypes, etc. Those features are serialized to RDF for content negotiation, RDF dumps and in the SPARQL endpoint. Wikidata adopted the entity schemas namespace using the ShEx language to describe and validate the RDF serialization of Wikidata entities. In this paper we propose WShEx, a language inspired by ShEx that directly supports the Wikibase data model and can be used to describe and validate Wikibase entities. The paper presents a the abstract syntax and semantic of the WShEx language.