Co-authorship network analysis in health research: method and potential use

Abstract

Scientific collaboration networks are a hallmark of contemporary academic research. Researchers are no longer independent players, but members of teams that bring together complementary skills and multidisciplinary approaches around common goals. Social network analysis and co-authorship networks are increasingly used as powerful tools to assess collaboration trends and to identify leading scientists and organizations. The analysis reveals the social structure of the networks by identifying actors and their connections. This article reviews the method and potential applications of co-authorship network analysis in health. The basic steps for conducting co-authorship studies in health research are described and common network metrics are presented. The application of the method is exemplified by an overview of the global research network for Chikungunya virus vaccines.

Dengue research networks: building evidence for policy and planning in Brazil

“…The analysis was based on SNA methods, as described by Fonseca et al [18]. SNA is a theoretical approach that uses a set of techniques to understand and quantify the relations between members of a network (nodes or actors), which can be individuals, groups, organisations and even whole countries [19].…”

“…Indicators at the individual level describe the importance of a particular node relative to all other nodes, based on the nature of its interactions. Centrality measures are the most used in SNA to identify the nodes that have strategic significance in the network [18]. …”

Mapping the dengue scientific landscape worldwide: a bibliometric and network analysis

“…SNA and co-authorship networks are being increasingly used as powerful tools to assess collaboration trends and to identify leading scientists and organisations in health studies (Fonseca et al 2016). The analysis reveals the social structure of the networks by identifying actors (researchers, organisations, countries etc.)…”

An Evolutionary Approach to Technology Innovation of Cadastre for Smart Land Management Policy

“…Research on multiple topics have used bibliometric analysis [21][22][23][24][25][26][27]. The review policies and analysis topics focused on using co-authors or co-words [28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. Moreover, there is a study that monitored the development process by analyzing trends and issues on specific topics [10,35].…”