Scientific Research

The Amo Institute contributes to knowledge and education by facilitating lexicographical and terminological research in the fields of Law, Economics, Business, Political studies, History, Psychology and other Social sciences and Humanities.

Whilst the Amo Institute has designed an optimum structure for its encyclopedic dictionaries, balancing the need for education and the efforts of research, the making of it still involves a lot of work.

The compilation of a well-crafted encyclopedic dictionary requires continuous and careful consideration of many aspects such as the selection of terms and concepts including its translation, the classification, the drafting of definitions and examples, selection of related terms, allocation of graphics, illustrations etc. Contact us if you consider to contribute.

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portrait "Research is the most important pillar of education. That is why we put great effort into it."
Filip J. Van Eeckhoutte LL.M., Director of the Amo Institute.

To improve the quality of its encyclopedic dictionaries, the Amo Institute researches the development of technical terms and their interrelationships within a scientific field and analysis of terms in context for the purpose of better understanding and promoting consistent usage.

The research is divided into the interlocking categories research meta-information and content development involving lexicographical and terminological research.

Content development research focuses on investigating, drafting and editing definitions and explanations of terms and concepts. In order for users to get in-depth understanding researchers of the Amo Institute enrich their definitions and explanations with carefully selected related issues, laws, jurisprudence, quotations, figures, dates, charts, tables, graphics, illustrations, biographies and all kinds of other relevant facts and information.

The Institute has made a call for the following projects and is inviting you, student or academic, to apply as a Researcher or Head of Research.

  1. Evolvement of the Amo Law Glossaries and Dictionaries into the Amo European Encyclopedic Law Dictionary;
  2. Evolvement of the Amo Economic and business Dictionaries into the Amo European Encyclopedic Economic & Business Dictionary;
  3. Development the European Encyclopedic Political and Social Dictionary;
  4. Setting up a thoughtful glossary in history studies from which the encyclopaedic dictionary will be developed;
  5. Setting up a thoughtful glossary in the field of psychology from which the encyclopaedic dictionary will be developed.

The institute welcomes other project proposals in the field of Social sciences.

If you are interested, Contact the Amo Institute.

Meta-information research focuses on the ways in which the reference works of the Amo Institute educate best. The Amo Institute has traditionally been working with concentric levels of relevance. The question however which data should envelop the terms and concepts, on what level and in which form, is the subject of continuous research.

Lexicology is mainly based on the word representation.

The Amo Institute is active in practical specialized lexicography. It focuses on the art of compiling, writing, editing, using, and evaluating specialized encyclopedic dictionaries. These dictionaries are devoted to the definition of (compound) words and multi-word expressions in one or more specialist fields, e.g. legal lexicography.

Lexicography is a scholarly discipline in its own right. The chief object of study in lexicography is the (making of a) dictionary.

Terminology is the study of terms, concepts and processes and their use. It is concerned with the relationship between concepts and processes, and between concepts/processes and their terms.

Whereas lexicology deals with the study of words, terminology is always in some sense concept-based: dealing with concepts from a special discipline and their denomination, resulting in an explanation, partly on the basis of a thesaurus. Hence, its introduction in the Amo Encyclopedic Dictionaries.

Why should you contribute to the Amo Encyclopedic Dictionaries?

Well, first of all, because you have a certain scientific knowledge and you want to dispurse it through a famous and authoritative network. The Amo Institute offers a fair compensation, attribution and protection of legacy and rights. The institute operates a user-friendly online management system in which research results can be entered and edited accurately, safely and secure.

Moreover, the Amo Institute is good for your CV. The institute issues a Research Certificate and registers its researchers on a tableau for future reference purposes. The international nature of the Amo Institute and the sustainable contacts that ensue from it, are also good reasons to join. So, connect with us!

For clarity: the Amo Institute is not some kind of Wiktionary. The Amo Institute has more focus; it aims only to define and explain terms and concepts in the fields of Law, Economics, Business, Political studies, History, Psychology and other Social sciences and Humanities. It does that on the basis of thorough scientific research. It is therefore in line with the latter that the institute works with a so-called closed and attributive system.

Wiktionary and Omegawiki are collaborative projects to produce a free-content multilingual dictionary. They aim to describe all words of all languages using definitions and descriptions in all languages.

So far, not much has been achieved. A sample of terms randomly chosen from the Amo Dutch Law and Economic Dictionary shows a mere 5 % hits. These hits contain only a brief definition in English.

Any visitor can edit, delete, or (worse) vandalize Wiktionary and Omegawiki. At these Wiki's all the content is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Unported License which means that visitors are free to copy, distribute and transmit the work, and to remix and to adapt the work. Essentially, the entries will remain free forever and can be used by anybody subject to the restrictions which serve to ensure that freedom. Contrary to that, the Amo Institute maintains a closed and attributive system.

Closed and attributive system

The Amo Institute works with a closed and attributive system; contributions and adaptations originate from students and academics affiliated with the Amo Institute. Valuable input from internet visitors is welcome of course, but will only be forwarded to a Head of Research if it meets the formal and material requirements. In addition, the dictionaries of the Amo Institute contain intellectual property rights (such as copyrights and database rights) that are maintained.

The reason for that is simple; academics want their works protected, without random people be able to remix, adapt, or copy it, or - even worse - destroy it. After all, their work is the result of scientific research and effort. It doesn't lend itself to just give away or to expose it to infringement.

The Heads of Research release approved research results for publication in one of reference works of the Amo Institute. An editor of the Amo Institute provides the final editing before publication.

Random people cannot remix or adapt those entries. It is not allowed to adapt, copy, distribute, transfer or transmit the Amo dictionaries or parts of it. Any disclosure, reproduction or (re)use whatsoever is subject to a license with applicable terms and conditions. For more information read the GTC.

Also, the Amo Institute maintains proper attribution to its researchers. It sees to it that all work is properly attributed, according the Institute's policies. That is why all researchers and heads of research are identified as academic students, Professors or scholars with sufficient credentials.

Pan-European Collaboration

The Amo Institute considers pan-European collaboration to be of paramount importance; e.g. a German student researcher can be linked to and communicate with a university teacher at the Sorbonne, and his or her team colleagues from Belgium and the UK. The operating language is English. This international collaboration promotes community spirit and may reveal viewpoints tied to a certain region or university. This adds to debate and consensus.

The Work Process

The work process within the Amo Institute is simple and straightforward

If you are a student in the field of Law, Economics, Business, Political studies, History, Psychology or other Social science or Humanities submit your candidacy as a researcher via the appropriate contact channel. After being allowed to the Amo Institute you will be teamed up with a head of research, who divides, supervises and evaluates your work.

The institute operates a user-friendly online management system in which you can enter and edit your research results accurately, safely and secure. The Heads of Research release approved research results for publication in one of the dictionaries of the Amo Institute. An editor provides the final editing, attributing your work to you. [See here how this looks like]

Do you want to become a Researcher too? Click here.