IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/infome/v17y2023i2s1751157723000263.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Research on the formation mechanism of research leadership relations: An exponential random graph model analysis approach

Author

Listed:
  • He, Chaocheng
  • Liu, Fuzhen
  • Dong, Ke
  • Wu, Jiang
  • Zhang, Qingpeng

Abstract

The research leadership relations capture the directed and critical relations from leading authors to participating authors in research collaborations. Studying the formation mechanisms of research leadership relations helps us better understand research collaborations. When studying the formation mechanisms of research collaboration networks (RCN), existing literature primarily focuses on collaboration relations among all coauthors, ignoring the aspect of research leadership, and concentrates on cognitive proximity, ignoring other key proximities. To study the formation mechanism of research leadership relations in a comprehensive manner, we construct a research leadership network (RLN), composed of research leadership relations. We apply the Exponential Random Graph Model to model RLN, taking into account the influence of network structure and researchers’ attributes, and make a comparison between RLN and RCN. Our dataset consists of publications in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Computer Sciences, and Library & Information Sciences from 2011 to 2019. The results indicate that research leadership relations tend to be reciprocal and based on a local hierarchy. The out-degree has a significant preferential attachment effect. The homophily effects of cognitive, and institutional proximity play a significant role in shaping tie formation. Regarding the comparison between RLN and RCN, both the triadic closure and the preferential attachment play important roles but drive network formation differently. These results generally remain robust across the three research fields and provide new insights into the understanding of research collaborations.

Suggested Citation

  • He, Chaocheng & Liu, Fuzhen & Dong, Ke & Wu, Jiang & Zhang, Qingpeng, 2023. "Research on the formation mechanism of research leadership relations: An exponential random graph model analysis approach," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:17:y:2023:i:2:s1751157723000263
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joi.2023.101401
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1751157723000263
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.joi.2023.101401?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Peng, Tai-Quan, 2015. "Assortative mixing, preferential attachment, and triadic closure: A longitudinal study of tie-generative mechanisms in journal citation networks," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 250-262.
    2. Carayol, Nicolas & Bergé, Laurent & Cassi, Lorenzo & Roux, Pascale, 2019. "Unintended triadic closure in social networks: The strategic formation of research collaborations between French inventors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 218-238.
    3. A. Fernández & E. Ferrándiz & M. D. León, 2016. "Proximity dimensions and scientific collaboration among academic institutions in Europe: The closer, the better?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(3), pages 1073-1092, March.
    4. Cui Zhang & Jing Guo, 2017. "China’s international research collaboration: evidence from a panel gravity model," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 113(2), pages 1129-1139, November.
    5. Staša Milojević, 2010. "Modes of collaboration in modern science: Beyond power laws and preferential attachment," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(7), pages 1410-1423, July.
    6. Carayol, Nicolas & Bergé, Laurent & Cassi, Lorenzo & Roux, Pascale, 2019. "Unintended triadic closure in social networks: The strategic formation of research collaborations between French inventors," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 218-238.
    7. Shan Jiang & Qiang Gao & Hsinchun Chen & Mihail C. Roco, 2015. "The roles of sharing, transfer, and public funding in nanotechnology knowledge-diffusion networks," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 66(5), pages 1017-1029, May.
    8. Staša Milojević, 2010. "Modes of collaboration in modern science: Beyond power laws and preferential attachment," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 61(7), pages 1410-1423, July.
    9. Wang, Mingyang & Yu, Guang & Yu, Daren, 2008. "Measuring the preferential attachment mechanism in citation networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(18), pages 4692-4698.
    10. Weichao Wang & Yishan Wu & Yuntao Pan, 2014. "An investigation of collaborations between top Chinese universities: a new quantitative approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(2), pages 1535-1545, February.
    11. Abbasi, Alireza & Altmann, Jörn & Hossain, Liaquat, 2011. "Identifying the effects of co-authorship networks on the performance of scholars: A correlation and regression analysis of performance measures and social network analysis measures," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 5(4), pages 594-607.
    12. Thomas Scherngell & Yuanjia Hu, 2011. "Collaborative Knowledge Production in China: Regional Evidence from a Gravity Model Approach," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 45(6), pages 755-772.
    13. Anne Boschini & Anna Sjögren, 2007. "Is Team Formation Gender Neutral? Evidence from Coauthorship Patterns," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(2), pages 325-365.
    14. Khezr, Peyman & Mohan, Vijay, 2022. "The vexing but persistent problem of authorship misconduct in research," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(3).
    15. Franceschet, Massimo & Costantini, Antonio, 2010. "The effect of scholar collaboration on impact and quality of academic papers," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 4(4), pages 540-553.
    16. Binglu Wang & Yi Bu & Yang Xu, 2018. "A quantitative exploration on reasons for citing articles from the perspective of cited authors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(2), pages 675-687, August.
    17. Handcock, Mark S. & Hunter, David R. & Butts, Carter T. & Goodreau, Steven M. & Morris, Martina, 2008. "statnet: Software Tools for the Representation, Visualization, Analysis and Simulation of Network Data," Journal of Statistical Software, Foundation for Open Access Statistics, vol. 24(i01).
    18. Kaltenberg, Mary & Jaffe, Adam B. & Lachman, Margie E., 2023. "Invention and the life course: Age differences in patenting," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    19. Chaocheng He & Jiang Wu & Qingpeng Zhang, 2020. "Research leadership flow determinants and the role of proximity in research collaborations," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(11), pages 1341-1356, November.
    20. Richard Klavans & Kevin W. Boyack, 2008. "Thought leadership: A new indicator for national and institutional comparison," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 75(2), pages 239-250, May.
    21. Cimenler, Oguz & Reeves, Kingsley A. & Skvoretz, John, 2015. "An evaluation of collaborative research in a college of engineering," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 577-590.
    22. Cassidy R. Sugimoto & Nicolas Robinson-Garcia & Dakota S. Murray & Alfredo Yegros-Yegros & Rodrigo Costas & Vincent Larivière, 2017. "Scientists have most impact when they're free to move," Nature, Nature, vol. 550(7674), pages 29-31, October.
    23. Momeni, Fakhri & Karimi, Fariba & Mayr, Philipp & Peters, Isabella & Dietze, Stefan, 2022. "The many facets of academic mobility and its impact on scholars' career," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    24. Xianwen Wang & Shenmeng Xu & Zhi Wang & Lian Peng & Chuanli Wang, 2013. "International scientific collaboration of China: collaborating countries, institutions and individuals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 95(3), pages 885-894, June.
    25. Tatiana Plotnikova & Bastian Rake, 2014. "Collaboration in pharmaceutical research: exploration of country-level determinants," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 98(2), pages 1173-1202, February.
    26. Chaocheng He & Jiang Wu & Qingpeng Zhang, 2021. "Characterizing research leadership on geographically weighted collaboration network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(5), pages 4005-4037, May.
    27. Yi Zhang & Fen Zhao & Jianguo Lu, 2019. "P2V: large-scale academic paper embedding," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 399-432, October.
    28. Aliakbar Akbaritabar & Vincent Antonio Traag & Alberto Caimo & Flaminio Squazzoni, 2020. "Italian sociologists: a community of disconnected groups," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 124(3), pages 2361-2382, September.
    29. Smith, Thomas Bryan & Vacca, Raffaele & Krenz, Till & McCarty, Christopher, 2021. "Great minds think alike, or do they often differ? Research topic overlap and the formation of scientific teams," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 15(1).
    30. Shen, Hongquan & Xie, Juan & Ao, Weiyi & Cheng, Ying, 2022. "The continuity and citation impact of scientific collaboration with different gender composition," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).
    31. Kibae Kim & Jörn Altmann, 2015. "Effect of Homophily on Network Formation," TEMEP Discussion Papers 2015121, Seoul National University; Technology Management, Economics, and Policy Program (TEMEP), revised Mar 2017.
    32. Vedran Sekara & Pierre Deville & Sebastian E. Ahnert & Albert-László Barabási & Roberta Sinatra & Sune Lehmann, 2018. "The chaperone effect in scientific publishing," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115(50), pages 12603-12607, December.
    33. Chenwei Zhang & Yi Bu & Ying Ding & Jian Xu, 2018. "Understanding scientific collaboration: Homophily, transitivity, and preferential attachment," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 69(1), pages 72-86, January.
    34. Pauline Mattsson & Carl Johan Sundberg & Patrice Laget, 2011. "Is correspondence reflected in the author position? A bibliometric study of the relation between corresponding author and byline position," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 87(1), pages 99-105, April.
    35. Ron Boschma, 2005. "Proximity and Innovation: A Critical Assessment," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(1), pages 61-74.
    36. repec:dau:papers:123456789/4590 is not listed on IDEAS
    37. Félix Moya-Anegón & Vicente P. Guerrero-Bote & Lutz Bornmann & Henk F. Moed, 2013. "The research guarantors of scientific papers and the output counting: a promising new approach," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 97(2), pages 421-434, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chaocheng He & Jiang Wu & Qingpeng Zhang, 2021. "Characterizing research leadership on geographically weighted collaboration network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(5), pages 4005-4037, May.
    2. Chaocheng He & Jiang Wu & Qingpeng Zhang, 2022. "Proximity‐aware research leadership recommendation in research collaboration via deep neural networks," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(1), pages 70-89, January.
    3. Chaocheng He & Jiang Wu & Qingpeng Zhang, 2020. "Research leadership flow determinants and the role of proximity in research collaborations," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(11), pages 1341-1356, November.
    4. Xuli Tang & Xin Li & Feicheng Ma, 2022. "Internationalizing AI: evolution and impact of distance factors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(1), pages 181-205, January.
    5. Vieira, Elizabeth S. & Cerdeira, Jorge & Teixeira, Aurora A.C., 2022. "Which distance dimensions matter in international research collaboration? A cross-country analysis by scientific domain," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2).
    6. Qingzhou Luo & Jianhong Cecilia Xia & Gaby Haddow & Michele Willson & Jun Yang, 2018. "Does distance hinder the collaboration between Australian universities in the humanities, arts and social sciences?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 115(2), pages 695-715, May.
    7. Jorge Cerdeira & João Mesquita & Elizabeth S. Vieira, 2023. "International research collaboration: is Africa different? A cross-country panel data analysis," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 128(4), pages 2145-2174, April.
    8. Yonghong Ma & Xiaomeng Yang & Sen Qu & Lingkai Kong, 2022. "Research on the formation mechanism of big data technology cooperation networks: empirical evidence from China," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(3), pages 1273-1294, March.
    9. Marian-Gabriel Hâncean & Matjaž Perc & Jürgen Lerner, 2021. "The coauthorship networks of the most productive European researchers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 201-224, January.
    10. Zhai, Li & Yan, Xiangbin, 2022. "A directed collaboration network for exploring the order of scientific collaboration," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(4).
    11. Hamid Bouabid & Hind Achachi, 2022. "Size of science team at university and internal co-publications: science policy implications," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 127(12), pages 6993-7013, December.
    12. Ana Fernández & Esther Ferrándiz & M. Dolores León, 2021. "Are organizational and economic proximity driving factors of scientific collaboration? Evidence from Spanish universities, 2001–2010," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 126(1), pages 579-602, January.
    13. Yang Liu & Jinyuan Ma & Huanyu Song & Ziniu Qian & Xiao Lin, 2021. "Chinese Universities’ Cross-Border Research Collaboration in the Social Sciences and Its Impact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-19, September.
    14. Chao Lu & Yingyi Zhang & Yong‐Yeol Ahn & Ying Ding & Chenwei Zhang & Dandan Ma, 2020. "Co‐contributorship network and division of labor in individual scientific collaborations," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 71(10), pages 1162-1178, October.
    15. A. Fernández & E. Ferrándiz & M. D. León, 2016. "Proximity dimensions and scientific collaboration among academic institutions in Europe: The closer, the better?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 106(3), pages 1073-1092, March.
    16. Inoue, Masaaki & Pham, Thong & Shimodaira, Hidetoshi, 2020. "Joint estimation of non-parametric transitivity and preferential attachment functions in scientific co-authorship networks," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 14(3).
    17. Chen, Kaihua & Zhang, Yi & Fu, Xiaolan, 2019. "International research collaboration: An emerging domain of innovation studies?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 149-168.
    18. Liu, Junwan & Guo, Xiaofei & Xu, Shuo & Song, Yinglu & Ding, Kaiyue, 2023. "A new interpretation of scientific collaboration patterns from the perspective of symbiosis: An investigation for long-term collaboration in publications," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1).
    19. Binglu Wang & Yi Bu & Yang Xu, 2018. "A quantitative exploration on reasons for citing articles from the perspective of cited authors," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 116(2), pages 675-687, August.
    20. Xie, Qing & Zhang, Xinyuan & Kim, Giyeong & Song, Min, 2022. "Exploring the influence of coauthorship with top scientists on researchers’ affiliation, research topic, productivity, and impact," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:infome:v:17:y:2023:i:2:s1751157723000263. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/joi .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.