Abstract
Once complexity theory provides a foundation to a fuller understanding of mechanisms of change, this chapter applies network structures and principles to science. Networks are the actualization of complex systems, and we can use network analysis to begin a process of understanding the structure of the global network, exploring how networking changes the system. It also allows us to visualize and measure the global network at various levels.
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Notes
- 1.
This historic role of networking in science was the theme of my book, The New Invisible College: Science for Development, Brookings, 2008.
- 2.
It is obvious that a researcher may also see the name of someone on a published article and reach out to that person to seek to collaborate with him or her, but we will discuss this type of connection later.
- 3.
A classic article in the study of science, “Is Invention Inevitable,” outlines many of the co-inventions in science. See, Ogburn, W. F., & Thomas, D. (1922). Are inventions inevitable? A note on social evolution. Political Science Quarterly, 37(1), 83–98.
- 4.
The publication of scientific findings is undergoing significant changes as online services become more widely available. This proliferation of publication outlets will be discussed in Chap. 6.
- 5.
Two databases are most commonly used in science: the Web of Science (formerly called ISI/SCI) and Scopus. Many other databases exist, but they are usually dedicated to specific fields of science. For example, arXiv.net contains physics and computer science articles, while PubMed contains biomedical articles.
- 6.
My own institution, The Ohio State University, houses a world-famous collection of ice cores collected and curated by Lonnie and Ellen Thompson. The collection is located at the Byrd Polar Research Center in Columbus, Ohio.
- 7.
Dunbar, R. (1992) Neocortex size as a constraint on group size in primates, Journal of Human Evolution 20: 469–93.
- 8.
Klein, J. T. (1996). Crossing Boundaries: Knowledge, Disciplinarities, and Interdisciplinarities. Charlottesville, VA, University Press of Virginia.
- 9.
Martha Ornstein (1928), Rôle of Scientific Societies in the Seventeenth Century (Reprint edition: Archon Books, Hamden & London: 1963) the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London is the first modern scientific journal The terms “science” and “scientist” did not come into common use until the nineteenth century.
- 10.
D. D. Beaver and R. Rosen (1978a): “Studies in Scientific Collaboration. Part I: The Professional Origins of Scientific Co-Authorship,” Scientometrics, 1, 65–84.
D. D. Beaver and R. Rosen (1978b): “Studies in Scientific Collaboration. Part II: Scientific Co-Authorship, Research Productivity, and Visibility in the French Elite,” Scientometrics, 1, 133–149.
- 11.
Ibid.
References
Barzel, B., & Barabási, A.-L. (2013, September). Universality in Network Dynamics. Nature Physics, 9. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2741
Guimera, R., Sales-Pardo, M., & Amaral, L. A. (2007). Classes of Complex Networks Defined by Role-to-Role Connectivity Profiles. Nature Physics, 3(1), 63.
Ornstein, M. (1928). Role of Scientific Societies in the Seventeenth Century. Hamden/London: Archon Books (Reprint Edition, 1963).
Rosenberg, N. (1982). Inside the Black Box: Technology and Economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Whitehead, A. N. (1925). Science and the Modern World. New York: New America Library, Macmillan.
Zuckerman, H. (1967). Nobel Laureates in Science: Patterns of Productivity, Collaboration, and Authorship. American Sociological Review, 32, 391–403.
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Wagner, C.S. (2018). It’s Who You Know (or Could Know) That Counts. In: The Collaborative Era in Science. Palgrave Advances in the Economics of Innovation and Technology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-94986-4_4
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