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A novel community detection method in bipartite networks

Author

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  • Zhou, Cangqi
  • Feng, Liang
  • Zhao, Qianchuan

Abstract

Community structure is a common and important feature in many complex networks, including bipartite networks, which are used as a standard model for many empirical networks comprised of two types of nodes. In this paper, we propose a two-stage method for detecting community structure in bipartite networks. Firstly, we extend the widely-used Louvain algorithm to bipartite networks. The effectiveness and efficiency of the Louvain algorithm have been proved by many applications. However, there lacks a Louvain-like algorithm specially modified for bipartite networks. Based on bipartite modularity, a measure that extends unipartite modularity and that quantifies the strength of partitions in bipartite networks, we fill the gap by developing the Bi-Louvain algorithm that iteratively groups the nodes in each part by turns. This algorithm in bipartite networks often produces a balanced network structure with equal numbers of two types of nodes. Secondly, for the balanced network yielded by the first algorithm, we use an agglomerative clustering method to further cluster the network. We demonstrate that the calculation of the gain of modularity of each aggregation, and the operation of joining two communities can be compactly calculated by matrix operations for all pairs of communities simultaneously. At last, a complete hierarchical community structure is unfolded. We apply our method to two benchmark data sets and a large-scale data set from an e-commerce company, showing that it effectively identifies community structure in bipartite networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhou, Cangqi & Feng, Liang & Zhao, Qianchuan, 2018. "A novel community detection method in bipartite networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 492(C), pages 1679-1693.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:492:y:2018:i:c:p:1679-1693
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2017.11.089
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Yubo Peng & Bofeng Zhang & Furong Chang, 2021. "Overlapping Community Detection of Bipartite Networks Based on a Novel Community Density," Future Internet, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-21, March.
    2. Maihami, Vafa & Yaghmaee, Farzin, 2018. "Automatic image annotation using community detection in neighbor images," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 507(C), pages 123-132.
    3. Neelu Chaudhary & Hardeo Kumar Thakur & Rinky Dwivedi, 2022. "An ensemble model to optimize modularity in dynamic bipartite networks," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 13(5), pages 2248-2260, October.
    4. Feng, Liang & Zhou, Cangqi & Zhao, Qianchuan, 2019. "A spectral method to find communities in bipartite networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 513(C), pages 424-437.
    5. Yang, Xin & Wen, Shigang & Zhao, Xian & Huang, Chuangxia, 2020. "Systemic importance of financial institutions: A complex network perspective," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 545(C).
    6. Arthur, Rudy, 2020. "Modularity and projection of bipartite networks," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 549(C).

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