Main path analysis: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Global key-route main paths SPCfor a citation network.pngsvg|thumb|'''Main paths analysis uncovers the most significant paths, or citation chains, in a citation network.''' '''The figure shows the global key-route main paths for a sample citation network (based on search path count and at key-route 1).''']]

'''The figure shows the global key-route main paths for a sample citation network (based on search path count and at key-route 1).'''

]]

Main path analysis was first proposed by Hummon and Doreian<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Hummon|first=Norman P.|last2=Doreian|first2=Patrick|date=|title=Connectivity in a citation network: The development of DNA theory|url=https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8733(89)90017-8|journal=Social Networks|volume=11|issue=1|pages=39–63|doi=10.1016/0378-8733(89)90017-8|via=}}</ref>. It is a mathematical tool to identify the major paths in a [[citation network]], which is one form of a [[directed acyclic graph]] (DAG). The method begins by measuring the significance of all the links in a citation network through the concept of ‘traversal count’ and then sequentially chains the most significant links into a "main path", which is deemed the most significant historical path in the target [[citation network]]. The method is applicable to any human activity that can be organized in the form of a [[citation network]]. The method is commonly applied to trace the knowledge flow paths or development trajectories of a science or technology field, through bibliographic citations or patent citations<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Liu|first=John S.|last2=Lu|first2=Louis Y.Y.|last3=Lu|first3=Wen-Min|last4=Lin|first4=Bruce J.Y.|title=Data envelopment analysis 1978–2010: A citation-based literature survey|url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omega.2010.12.006|journal=Omega|volume=41|issue=1|pages=3–15|doi=10.1016/j.omega.2010.12.006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Verspagen|first=Bart|date=2007-03-01|title=Mapping technological trajectories as patent citation networks: a study on the history of fuel cell research|url=http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219525907000945|journal=Advances in Complex Systems|volume=10|issue=01|pages=93–115|doi=10.1142/S0219525907000945|issn=0219-5259}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite journal|last=Lucio-Arias|first=Diana|last2=Leydesdorff|first2=Loet|date=2008-10-01|title=Main-path analysis and path-dependent transitions in HistCite™-based historiograms|url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.20903/abstract|journal=Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology|language=en|volume=59|issue=12|pages=1948–1962|doi=10.1002/asi.20903|issn=1532-2890}}</ref>. It has also been applied to judicial decisions to trace the evolving changes of legal opinions<ref name=":4">{{Cite journal|last=Liu|first=John S.|last2=Chen|first2=Hsiao-Hui|last3=Ho|first3=Mei Hsiu-Ching|last4=Li|first4=Yu-Chen|date=2014-12-01|title=Citations with different levels of relevancy: Tracing the main paths of legal opinions|url=http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.23135/abstract|journal=Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology|language=en|volume=65|issue=12|pages=2479–2488|doi=10.1002/asi.23135|issn=2330-1643}}</ref>.

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==== Global search ====

Global search simply suggest the citation chain with the largest overall SPX. The concept of global search is similar to the [[critical path method]] in project scheduling. The global main paths of the sample citation network based on SPC is presented in Figure 5. The sum of all the SPC values in the path B-D-F-I-M-N is 15, which is the largest among all possible paths.

[[File:Global key-route main paths SPCfor a citation network.pngsvg|thumb|Figure 67. Global key-route main paths in a sample citation network]]

==== Key-route search ====

Key-route search is designed to avoid the problem of missing significant links in both the local and global search. The problem is in the local and global main paths shown above, in which one of most important link (H,K) is not included in the main paths. As described in Liu and Lu (2012)<ref name=":1" />, the approach searches main paths from the specified links (key-routes) thus guarantees the inclusion of the links. One can also specify multiple links to obtain multiple main paths. An additional advantage of the key-route approach is that one is able to control the detail of the main paths by varying the number of key-routes. The larger the number of key-route is specified, the more detail is reveals. When the number of key-route increases to a certain point the search returnsthereturns the whole citation network. Figure 6 and 7 show the local key-route and global key-route main paths of the sample citation network. In both main paths the number of key-route is set to 1, i.e., doing the search base on only the top links. Since there are two top links (B,D) and (H,K), the resulting main paths include both of them.

== The Variants ==