An ongoing discussion concerning the possibilities of universal classification based on phenomena rather than on research disciplines has been noticed. In order to discover if this was a limited discussion or the beginning of a major new field of research a study of citations was made using the database Web of Science. In addition, references of the works concerned were studied to find out where the ideas originated. The study of references shows that the ideas originate in a limited number of older published works, some of them well established in Information Science, some of them less generally known. The main ideas commonly used in Information Science are Ranganathan’s facet theories and the work of the Classification Research Group. The less familiar notions include the philosophy of Nicolai Hartmann, most of whose works are only available in German. Hartmann’s “stratified” ontology has received particular attention, and some writers argue that it could be combined with suggestions about integrative levels brought forth by the Classification Research Group in order to form a new and improved system of classification. While the survey of articles, references and citations reveals no major impact on the field of Information Science as yet, it also shows that the discussion is likely to continue for some time and that it may influence future research by questioning disciplines and reviving the interest in some theories deserving recognition. / Program: Bibliotekarie