A Body of Knowledge is a term used to represent the sum total of all knowledge in an area expertise, most notably professional bodies. A body of knowledge is usually made up of knowledge areas that represent a taxonomy of relevant concepts. Most BOKs also reference a significant amount of supporting literature.

It is also used to describe the repository that documents that knowledge.

A Body of Knowledge is not a collection of data, a professional reading list, a library, a website or a collection of websites, a description of professional functions, or even a collection of information.

Examples of Bodies of Knowledge

The following are examples of Bodies of Knowledge from professional organisations:

• Civil Engineering Body of Knowledge
• Common Body of Knowledge (CBK) – for international Information Security professionals.
• Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) – for the profession of software engineering.
• Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) from the PMI – for those following the project management discipline.
• Geographic Information Science and Technology Body of Knowledge (GISTBoK) – for the geospatial realm.
• Enterprise Architecture Body of Knowledge (EABOK) – for the Enterprise Architecture (EA) discipline.
• Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABOK) from the IIBA – for the Business Analysis profession
• Usability Body of Knowledge – for the usability profession.
• The Body of Quality Knowledge – for quality professionals.

See also

• Knowledge representation
• Ontology
• Taxonomy