Abstract
Terminology work is typically an interdisciplinary activity (KÜDES 2018). It generally requires terminologists and domain experts (subject matter experts) to interact with the aim of reaching the intended goal, be it the production of terminological resources, the official standardisation of terms, the provision of concept definitions, etc. Since the background knowledge and working methods of terminologists and domain experts may diverge notably, interdisciplinary collaboration often represents a challenge (Costa et al. 2012).
This contribution addresses the different possible types of cooperation (Ostroški Anić and Brač 2025; Chiocchetti and Wissik 2018; Kudashev 2013) with domain experts within the terminology workflow (ISO 12616-1 2021; Chiocchetti et al. 2013a; Karsch 2006), which may show varying degrees of formalisation (Stefaniak 2023; Chiocchetti et al. 2013b) and division of labour (Nuopponen 2018). It highlights common challenges, including the scarce availability of experts (esp. for some domains/languages) (e.g. Portelli 2025) and their limited involvement in the workflow (KÜDES 2018), the need to create a common ground (e.g. by agreeing on termhood or the structure of definitions) and to streamline work to maximise and focus the inputs or feedback obtained by domain experts. Keeping track of expert input, discussions and decisions, including those relating to past work, is a further challenge that has concerned terminologists for years.
These aspects will be illustrated with examples from interviews with terminology centres in Europe collected in 2012 and current publications on the cooperation between terminologists and domain experts.