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Empirical analysis of the evolution of a scientific collaboration network

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  • Tomassini, Marco
  • Luthi, Leslie

Abstract

We present an analysis of the temporal evolution of a scientific coauthorship network, the genetic programming network. We find evidence that the network grows according to preferential attachment, with a slightly sublinear rate. We empirically find how a giant component forms and develops, and we characterize the network by several other time-varying quantities: the mean degree, the clustering coefficient, the average path length, and the degree distribution. We find that the first three statistics increase over time in the growing network; the degree distribution tends to stabilize toward an exponentially truncated power-law. We finally suggest an effective network interpretation that takes into account the aging of collaboration relationships.

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  • Tomassini, Marco & Luthi, Leslie, 2007. "Empirical analysis of the evolution of a scientific collaboration network," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 385(2), pages 750-764.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:385:y:2007:i:2:p:750-764
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2007.07.028
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    Cited by:

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    8. Leifeld, Philip, 2018. "Polarization in the social sciences: Assortative mixing in social science collaboration networks is resilient to interventions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 507(C), pages 510-523.
    9. Çavuşoğlu, Abdullah & Türker, İlker, 2013. "Scientific collaboration network of Turkey," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 9-18.
    10. Xie, Zheng & Ouyang, Zhenzheng & Li, Jianping, 2016. "A geometric graph model for coauthorship networks," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 299-311.
    11. Small, Henry, 2009. "Critical thresholds for co-citation clusters and emergence of the giant component," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 3(4), pages 332-340.
    12. Susan Biancani & Daniel McFarland, 2013. "Social Networks Research in Higher Education," Voprosy obrazovaniya / Educational Studies Moscow, National Research University Higher School of Economics, issue 4, pages 85-126.
    13. Vincenza Carchiolo & Marco Grassia & Michele Malgeri & Giuseppe Mangioni, 2022. "Co-Authorship Networks Analysis to Discover Collaboration Patterns among Italian Researchers," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-15, June.
    14. Jason Cory Brunson & Steve Fassino & Antonio McInnes & Monisha Narayan & Brianna Richardson & Christopher Franck & Patrick Ion & Reinhard Laubenbacher, 2014. "Evolutionary events in a mathematical sciences research collaboration network," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 99(3), pages 973-998, June.
    15. Zheng Xie & Zonglin Xie & Miao Li & Jianping Li & Dongyun Yi, 2017. "Modeling the coevolution between citations and coauthorship of scientific papers," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 112(1), pages 483-507, July.
    16. Yang, Xu-Hua & Chen, Guang & Sun, Bao & Chen, Sheng-Yong & Wang, Wan-Liang, 2011. "Bus transport network model with ideal n-depth clique network topology," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 390(23), pages 4660-4672.
    17. Çavuşoğlu, Abdullah & Türker, İlker, 2014. "Patterns of collaboration in four scientific disciplines of the Turkish collaboration network," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 413(C), pages 220-229.
    18. Eli Rudinow Saetnan & Richard Philip Kipling, 2016. "Evaluating a European knowledge hub on climate change in agriculture: Are we building a better connected community?," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 109(2), pages 1057-1074, November.
    19. Lara-Cabrera, R. & Cotta, C. & Fernández-Leiva, A.J., 2014. "An analysis of the structure and evolution of the scientific collaboration network of computer intelligence in games," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 395(C), pages 523-536.
    20. Zheng Xie, 2019. "A cooperative game model for the multimodality of coauthorship networks," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 121(1), pages 503-519, October.
    21. Sheridan, Paul & Yagahara, Yuichi & Shimodaira, Hidetoshi, 2012. "Measuring preferential attachment in growing networks with missing-timelines using Markov chain Monte Carlo," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 391(20), pages 5031-5040.
    22. Salgado, Ariel & Caridi, Inés, 2022. "Network of R packages: A characterization of an empirical collaborative network," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 155(C).
    23. Noémi Gaskó & Rodica Ioana Lung & Mihai Alexandru Suciu, 2016. "A new network model for the study of scientific collaborations: Romanian computer science and mathematics co-authorship networks," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 108(2), pages 613-632, August.
    24. Wang L. & Coccia M., 2015. "Evolutionary convergence of the patterns of international research collaborations across scientific fields," MERIT Working Papers 2015-011, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).
    25. Tsouchnika, Maria & Smolyak, Alex & Argyrakis, Panos & Havlin, Shlomo, 2022. "Patent collaborations: From segregation to globalization," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 16(1).

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