Empirical analysis of the evolution of a scientific
collaboration network
Physica A, (2007)Available online 25 July 2007.Abstract
We present an analysis of the temporal evolution of a
scientific coauthorship network, the genetic
programming network. We find evidence that the network
grows according to preferential attachment, with a
slightly sublinear rate. We empirically find how a
giant component forms and develops, and we characterise
the network by several other time-varying quantities:
the mean degree, the clustering coefficient, the
average path length, and the degree distribution. We
find that the first three statistics increase over time
in the growing network; the degree distribution tends
to stabilise toward an exponentially truncated
power-law. We finally suggest an effective network
interpretation that takes into account the aging of
collaboration relationships.
