Research rapidity and efficiency improvement by analysis of research artifact similarity

1. A computer-implemented method for comparing query-related objects, comprising:

receiving a plurality of query-related objects of two or more object types, each query-related object having a different owner;

sorting the plurality of query-related objects according to the two or more object types;

calculating a degree of similarity of the sorted query-related objects of each of the two or more object types;

determining the calculated degrees of similarity of the sorted query-related objects above a threshold for similarity;

for those sorted query-related objects having the calculated degree of similarity above the threshold for similarity, selecting pairs of query-related objects with different owners having a predetermined degree of association;

grouping the selected pairs of query-related objects by the owners of the query-related objects;

ranking the grouped pairs of query-related objects based upon the number of selected pairs of query-related objects within the group; and

outputting the ranked grouped pairs according to the ranking.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of query-related objects include abstract queries resolved against a logical model abstractly describing physical data.

3. The computer-implement method of claim 1 , further comprising:

issuing a notification of the degree of similarity to at least one of the owners of the query-related objects.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the notification indicates a degree of similarity to at least one of the owners of the query-related objects if the degree of similarity is above a threshold for similarity.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 3 , wherein the notification includes information that allows at least one of the different owners to communicate with another owner.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein calculating further comprises:

determining a value for the typical degree of similarity of a plurality of query-related objects; and

using the value for the typical degree of similarity to set a threshold of similarity.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein calculating further comprises:

selecting a plurality of query-related objects which are typical of query-related objects found in a system; and

adjusting the degree of similarity downward because of a degree of similarity between the received plurality of query-related objects and the selected plurality of query-related objects typical of query-related objects found in the system.

8. The computer-implement method of claim 1 , wherein each received query-related object is one of a query object, a result object, and an analysis object.

9. The computer-implement method of claim 1 , wherein calculating further comprises:

assigning a weight to the each received query-related object; and

using the weight assigned to the each received query-related object to adjust the degree of similarity between each query-related object having a different owner.