The hidden knowledge flow in multilayer networks

Fusing different citation linkages to construct the overlay network has become a prevalent practice in information science. Nonetheless, existing studies are unclear about the impact of the missing link, a type of link that is absent from the direct citation network but manifests in other networks. At the link level, missing links exhibit a shorter citation lag and can elucidate associations between time-adjacent works, thereby mitigating the impact of publication lag, citation lag and technical vision. At the node level, missing links augment network connectivity, fortifying internal knowledge flow within the community, thus facilitating the identification of additional representatives and gatekeepers. At the path level, the inclusion of missing links results in higher topic consistency in main path compared to those derived by the classical methods. The analysis of network positions additionally corroborates that missing links can capture authentic knowledge flows within not only central communities, but also remote ones.