Build up of a subject classification system from collective intelligence

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new, unbiased scientific classification system based on collective intelligence from Wikipedia, offering a more adaptable and comprehensive alternative to traditional expert-based schemes.

Contribution

It introduces a method to construct a scientific discipline network from Wikipedia, creating an unbiased, collective knowledge-based classification system.

Findings

The Wikipedia-based network reveals a landscape of science and technology.

The new classification system is more unbiased and adaptable.

It overcomes limitations of traditional expert-based classifications.

Abstract

Systematized subject classification is essential for funding and assessing scientific projects. Conventionally, classification schemes are founded on the empirical knowledge of the group of experts; thus, the experts' perspectives have influenced the current systems of scientific classification. Those systems archived the current state-of-art in practice, yet the global effect of the accelerating scientific change over time has made the updating of the classifications system on a timely basis vertually impossible. To overcome the aforementioned limitations, we propose an unbiased classification scheme that takes advantage of collective knowledge; Wikipedia, an Internet encyclopedia edited by millions of users, sets a prompt classification in a collective fashion. We construct a Wikipedia network for scientific disciplines and extract the backbone of the network. This structure displays a landscape of science and technology that is based on a collective intelligence and that is more unbiased and adaptable than conventional classifications.