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Does main path analysis prefer longer paths?

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Abstract

Does main path analysis (MPA), in producing the main paths (MPs), invariably choose the longer paths over the shorter ones? This work examines the various combinations of the most popular path search algorithms, i.e., local and global searches (including the key-route variant), and the weight assignment algorithms, i.e., search path count (SPC), search path link count (SPLC), and search path node pair (SPNP), to investigate the path preference of MPA. Based on a simplified model, this work finds that, when there are multiple paths between a pair of nodes, MPA indeed goes for the longer paths under some, but not all, algorithm combinations, but it may retain both longer and shorter paths under other combinations.

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Acknowledgements

The author expresses his appreciation to the anonymous reviewers for their careful examination of the manuscript and their helpful comments and suggestions. This work was financially supported by the Center for Research in Econometric Theory and Applications (Grant No. 111L900204) from The Featured Areas Research Center Program within the framework of the Higher Education Sprout Project, the Universities and Colleges Humanities and Social Sciences Benchmarking Project (Grant No. 111L9A002) by the Ministry of Education (MOE) in Taiwan, and by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Taiwan, under Grant Nos. 111-2634-F-002-018- and 110-2221-E-011-141-.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Patent, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, No. 43 Sec. 4 Keelung Rd., Taipei, 10607, Taiwan, ROC

    Chung-Huei Kuan

  2. Center for Research in Econometric Theory and Applications, National Taiwan University, No. 1, Sec. 4, Roosevelt Rd., Taipei, 10617, Taiwan, ROC

    Chung-Huei Kuan

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Correspondence to Chung-Huei Kuan.

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Kuan, CH. Does main path analysis prefer longer paths?. Scientometrics 128, 841–851 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-022-04543-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-022-04543-y

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