Much of the research on network and graph databases from the 70's and 80's apply to today's non-relational models, at least from a logical data integrity subject area.
The short answer is that the "relational" model is a generic logical theory for managing data under a closed world assumption. "Non relational" mostly is about saying "I don't need a logical model, I need a persistence framework", wherein you are just looking to implement durable storage, but aren't really managing data in a logical manner.
Some network/graph databases are arguably a special case of the relational model, but they all vary to the extent under which they enforce logical integrity vs. exposing the innards to muck with (same with all RDBMS' frankly).
William Kent's 1978 book _Data and Reality_ is a great read to think of data modeling and integrity issues generically, irrespective of whether you use an RDBMS or a non-relational database. He highlights certain logical concepts as universal regardless of whether you use tables, K/V pairs, or graphs of binary relationships.
Comments
Much of the research on network and graph databases from the 70's and 80's apply to today's non-relational models, at least from a logical data integrity subject area.
The short answer is that the "relational" model is a generic logical theory for managing data under a closed world assumption. "Non relational" mostly is about saying "I don't need a logical model, I need a persistence framework", wherein you are just looking to implement durable storage, but aren't really managing data in a logical manner.
Some network/graph databases are arguably a special case of the relational model, but they all vary to the extent under which they enforce logical integrity vs. exposing the innards to muck with (same with all RDBMS' frankly).
William Kent's 1978 book _Data and Reality_ is a great read to think of data modeling and integrity issues generically, irrespective of whether you use an RDBMS or a non-relational database. He highlights certain logical concepts as universal regardless of whether you use tables, K/V pairs, or graphs of binary relationships.