Complete trails of co-authorship network evolution

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the complete evolution of co-authorship networks in theoretical physics, revealing common structural processes and introducing a new model to reproduce these patterns.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of co-authorship network evolution, especially in early stages, and proposes a novel network model to replicate observed dynamics.

Findings

Networks evolve through nucleation, cluster aggregation, and loop formation.

The giant component is robust and forms the network's dynamic core.

A new model successfully reproduces the observed network evolution patterns.

Abstract

The rise and fall of a research field is the cumulative outcome of its intrinsic scientific value and social coordination among scientists. The structure of the social component is quantifiable by the social network of researchers linked via co-authorship relations, which can be tracked through digital records. Here, we use such co-authorship data in theoretical physics and study their complete evolutionary trail since inception, with a particular emphasis on the early transient stages. We find that the co-authorship networks evolve through three common major processes in time: the nucleation of small isolated components, the formation of a tree-like giant component through cluster aggregation, and the entanglement of the network by large-scale loops. The giant component is constantly changing yet robust upon link degradations, forming the network's dynamic core. The observed patterns are successfully reproducible through a new network model.