On time-varying collaboration networks

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the evolution of scientific collaboration networks over time, revealing growth patterns and stability trends of collaborative groups using data from arXiv.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of affine groups to study temporal collaboration patterns and predicts the emergence of a single dominant group in the future.

Findings

Affine group size grows exponentially over time

Number of authors increases as a power law

Larger affine groups tend to be less stable

Abstract

The patterns of scientific collaboration have been frequently investigated in terms of complex networks without reference to time evolution. In the present work, we derive collaborative networks (from the arXiv repository) parameterized along time. By defining the concept of affine group, we identify several interesting trends in scientific collaboration, including the fact that the average size of the affine groups grows exponentially, while the number of authors increases as a power law. We were therefore able to identify, through extrapolation, the possible date when a single affine group is expected to emerge. Characteristic collaboration patterns were identified for each researcher, and their analysis revealed that larger affine groups tend to be less stable.