Social networks of author-coauthor relationships

Social network analysis has proven to be a useful tool in analysis of many situations. We begin by giving an overview of social network analysis. We then illustrate the concepts by examining the social networks of co-authors of scholarly publications. Scholarly publication is in many ways the lifeblood of academic institutions and there are strong incentives, both in terms of prestige and financial compensation, for faculty members to publish. Different disciplines and individuals have evolved distinguishable mechanisms for coping with the publication pressures. We examine the co-authorship networks of a number of prominent scholars. Based on the clustering within the co-author social network, we distinguish several styles of co-authorship including solo models (no co-authors), mentor models, entrepreneurial models, and team models. We conjecture that certain styles of co-authorship lead to the possibility of group-think, reduced creativity, and the possibility of less rigorous reviewing processes. Published by Elsevier B.V.