How Integrated are Theoretical and Applied Physics?

TL;DR

This paper uses network science to quantitatively assess the integration of theoretical and applied physics journals, revealing a surprisingly high level of interconnectedness and similar centralities within the APS citation network.

Contribution

It introduces a novel, quantitative approach using network analysis to measure the integration of theoretical and applied physics journals.

Findings

High level of integration between theoretical and applied journals

Similar centralities of these journals in the citation network

Network analysis provides an objective measure of journal integration

Abstract

How well integrated are more theoretically and application oriented works in Physics currently? This interesting question, which has several relevant implications, has been approached mostly in a more subjective way. Recent concepts and methods from network science are used in the current work in order to develop a more principled, quantitative and objective approach to gauging the integration and centrality of more theoretical/applied journals within the APS journals database, represented as a directed and undirected citation network. The results suggest a surprising level of integration between more theoretically and application oriented journals, which are also characterized by remarkably similar centralities in the network.