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Identifying research facilitators in an emerging Asian Research Area

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Abstract

We introduce a novel set of metrics for triadic closure among individuals or groups to model how co-authorship networks become more integrated over time. We call this process of triadic, third-party mediated integration, research facilitation. We apply our research facilitation or RF-metrics to the development of the Pan-Asian SNP (PASNP) Consortium, the first inter-Asian genomics network. Our aim was to examine if the consortium catalyzed research facilitation or integration among the members and the wider region. The PASNP Consortium is an ideal case study of an emerging Asian Research Area because its members themselves asserted a regional Asian identity. To validate our model, we developed data mining software to extract and match full author and institutional information from the PDFs of scientific papers.

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Notes

  1. Nuance Omnipage, versions 16 and 17.

  2. Otherwise, all initial members of a small networks might have some traceable path to later-facilitated connections.

  3. The US bio-chip company, Affymetrix, supported the consortium with equipment, training, and manpower. The company also opened its first overseas manufacturing plant in Singapore.

  4. The Chinese Whispers algorithm has been empirically shown to perform well in detecting small-worlds even in networks with skewed mixture of clusters and is faster than other network clustering algorithms such as minimum cut and hierarchical clustering which are capable of similar performances. Owing to the stochastic nature of the algorithm, it might not be possible to replicate the exact number of clusters on an arbitrary run on the dataset, yet the empirical results would still be the same on every run.

  5. Small-worlds are a family of networks that form a continuum extending between the class of regular networks and random networks. The mean geodesic distance and clustering coefficient are measures to quantify the small-worldliness of connected networks. Small-world networks typically have high clustering coefficients yet low mean geodesic distances.

  6. Note that no relevant activity occured in 2009.

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Acknowledgments

This article was supported by the Fetzer Franklin Trust project on Culture and Cognition, National University of Singapore—Global Asia Institute project on Mapping the Technological and Cultural Landscape of Scientific Development in Asia (grant AC-2010-1-004), and John Templeton Foundation project on Religion’s Impact on Human Life. We acknowledge Sy Bac Vo for assistance in the development of Eq. (3). Color printing supported by Asian Biopoleis Project grant MOE2009-T2-2-013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Philip S. Cho

  2. Department of Computer Science, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Huy Hoang Nhat Do, Muthu Kumar Chandrasekaran & Min-Yen Kan

  3. Interactive and Digital Media Institute, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    Min-Yen Kan

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  1. Philip S. Cho
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  2. Huy Hoang Nhat Do
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  3. Muthu Kumar Chandrasekaran
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  4. Min-Yen Kan
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Correspondence to Philip S. Cho.

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Cho, P.S., Do, H.H.N., Chandrasekaran, M.K. et al. Identifying research facilitators in an emerging Asian Research Area. Scientometrics 97, 75–97 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-013-1051-3

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