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A university-centred European Union link analysis

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Abstract

University web sites play an important role in facilitating a wide range of types of communication. This paper reports an analysis of international academic linking in Europe, with particular reference to European Union (EU) integration. The Microsoft search service was used to calculate international interlinking to universities and from universities. Four different web topologies were found for the link structure data and poorly connected countries were identified. The results show the expected EU dominance of the large richer Western European nations, particularly the UK and Germany. The new EU countries are not yet integrated into the EU web but some show strong regional connections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Computing and Information Technology, University of Wolverhampton, Wulfruna Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1SB, UK

    Mike Thelwall

  2. Science System Assessment (SciSA) Unit, Rathenau Instituut, Den Haag, The Netherlands

    Alesia Zuccala

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  1. Mike Thelwall
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  2. Alesia Zuccala
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Correspondence to Mike Thelwall.

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Thelwall, M., Zuccala, A. A university-centred European Union link analysis. Scientometrics 75, 407–420 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-007-1831-8

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