J Shanghai Jiaotong Univ Sci

Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University(Science) >

2024 , Vol. 29 >Issue 1: 150 - 160

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12204-022-2558-7

Medicine-Engineering Interdisciplinary Research

Social Network Analysis of COVID-19 Research and the Changing International Collaboration Structure

Expand
  • (1. Shanghai Discipline Assessment Center, Office of Strategic Planning, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China; 2. Network and Information Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240, China)

Received date: 2022-05-31

  Accepted date: 2022-08-27

  Online published: 2024-01-24

Fold

Abstract

Research in Information Science and interdisciplinary areas suggested the formation of a growing network of international research collaboration. The massive transmission of COVID-19 worldwide especially after the identification of the Omicron variant could fundamentally alter the factors shaping the network’s development. This study employs network analysis methods to analyze the structure of the COVID-19 research collaboration from 2020 to 2022, using two major academic publication databases and the VOSviewer software. A novel temporal view is added by examining the dynamic changes of the network, and a fractional counting method is adopted as methodological improvements to previous research. Analysis reveals that the COVID-19 research network structure has undergone substantial changes over time, as collaborating countries and regions form and re-form new clusters. Transformations in the network can be partly explained by key developments in the pandemic and other social-political events. China as one of the largest pivots in the network formed a relatively distinct cluster, with potential to develop a larger Asia-Pacific collaboration cluster based on its research impact.

Key words： COVID-19, international research collaboration, network analysis, high interdisciplinary research

Cite this article

QIN Ye1 (秦野), CHEN Rongrong2∗ (陈蓉蓉) . Social Network Analysis of COVID-19 Research and the Changing International Collaboration Structure[J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiaotong University(Science), 2024 , 29(1) : 150 -160 . DOI: 10.1007/s12204-022-2558-7

References

[1] WHO. Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 27 April 2022 [EB/OL]. (2022-04-27) [2022-05-20]. https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weeklyepidemiological-update-on-covid-19—27-april-2022.
[2] WANG G H, ZHANG Y T, ZHAO J, et al. Mitigate the effects of home confinement on children during the COVID-19 outbreak [J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Medical Science), 2020, 40(3): 279-281 (in Chinese).
[3] NICOLA M, ALSAFI Z, SOHRABI C, et al. The socioeconomic implications of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19): A review [J]. International Journal of Surgery, 2020, 78: 185-193.
[4] PAWAR M V, ANURADHA J, PAWAR A M, et al. COVID-19 epidemic impact on various society sectors [M]//Healthcare informatics for fighting COVID-19 and future epidemics. Cham: Springer, 2022: 211-232.
[5] WANG X, HUANG M, WANG H, et al. International Collaboration Activity Index: Case study of dye-sensitized solar cells [J]. Journal of Informetrics, 2014, 8(4): 854-862.
[6] BOYACK K W, KLAVANS R. Co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and direct citation: Which citation approach represents the research front most accurately? [J]. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2010, 61(12): 2389-2404.
[7] WAGNER C S, LEYDESDORFF L. Mapping the network of global science: Comparing international coauthorships from 1990 to 2000 [J]. International Journal of Technology and Globalisation, 2005, 1(2): 185.
[8] WU L F, WANG D S, EVANS J A. Large teams develop and small teams disrupt science and technology [J]. Nature, 2019, 566(7744): 378-382.
[9] ADAMS J. The fourth age of research [J]. Nature, 2013, 497(7451): 557-560.
[10] WUCHTY S, JONES B F, UZZI B. The increasing dominance of teams in production of knowledge [J]. Science, 2007, 316(5827): 1036-1039.
[11] CHEN K H, ZHANG Y, FU X L. International research collaboration: An emerging domain of innovation studies? [J]. Research Policy, 2019, 48(1): 149-168.
[12] WAGNER C S, LEYDESDORFF L. Network structure, self-organization, and the growth of international collaboration in science [J]. Research Policy, 2005, 34(10): 1608-1618.
[13] ZHANG L, ZHAO W J, SUN B B, et al. How scientific research reacts to international public health emergencies: A global analysis of response patterns [J]. Scientometrics, 2020, 124(1): 747-773.
[14] LEE J J, HAUPT J P. Scientific globalism during a global crisis: Research collaboration and open access publications on COVID-19 [J]. Higher Education, 2021, 81(5): 949-966.
[15] YANG Z T, GAO W Y, LIANG J, et al. Experience of emergency department of large tertiary general hospital in coping with epidemic outbreak of COVID-19 [J]. Journal of Shanghai Jiao Tong University (Medical Science), 2020, 40(4): 417-421 (in Chinese).
[16] KRAEMER M U G, YANG C H, GUTIERREZ B, et al. The effect of human mobility and control measures on the COVID-19 epidemic in China [J]. Science, 2020, 368(6490): 493-497.
[17] BORKOWSKI P, JAZD ZEWSKA-GUTTA M, SZMELTER-JAROSZ A. Lockdowned: Everyday mobility changes in response to COVID-19 [J]. Journal of Transport Geography, 2021, 90: 102906.
[18] LEE J J, HAUPT J P. Scientific collaboration on COVID-19 amidst geopolitical tensions between the US and China [J]. The Journal of Higher Education, 2021, 92(2): 303-329.
[19] ARISTOVNIK A, RAVSELJ D, UMEK L. A bibliometric analysis of COVID-19 across science and social science research landscape [J]. Sustainability, 2020, 12(21): 9132.
[20] HO Y S, FU H Z, MCKAY D. A bibliometric analysis of COVID-19 publications in the ten psychologyrelated Web of Science categories in the social science citation index [J]. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 2021, 77(12): 2832-2848.
[21] BELLI S, MUGNAINI R, BALTA J, et al. Coronavirus mapping in scientific publications: When science advances rapidly and collectively, is access to this knowledge open to society? [J]. Scientometrics, 2020, 124(3): 2661-2685.
[22] SACHINI E, SIOUMALAS-CHRISTODOULOU K, CHRYSOMALLIDIS C, et al. COVID-19 enabled coauthoring networks: A country-case analysis [J]. Scientometrics, 2021, 126(6): 5225-5244.
[23] LIU L H, IKETANI S, GUO Y C, et al. Striking antibody evasion manifested by the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 [J]. Nature, 2022, 602(7898): 676-681.
[24] PERIANES-RODRIGUEZ A, WALTMAN L, VANECK N J. Constructing bibliometric networks: A comparison between full and fractional counting [J]. Journal of Informetrics, 2016, 10(4): 1178-1195.
[25] BURT R S, KILDUFF M, TASSELLI S. Social network analysis: Foundations and frontiers on advantage [J]. Annual Review of Psychology, 2013, 64: 527-547.
[26] SCOTT J, CARRINGTON P. The SAGE handbook of social network analysis [M]. London: SAGE, 2011.
[27] VAN ECK N J, WALTMAN L. Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping [J]. Scientometrics, 2010, 84(2): 523-538.
[28] DING Y, ROUSSEAU R, WOLFRAM D. Measuring scholarly impact [M]. Cham: Springer, 2014.
[29] JAFFE K, TER HORST E, GUNN L H, et al. A network analysis of research productivity by country, discipline, and wealth [J]. PLoS ONE, 2020, 15(5): e0232458.
[30] NIU F G, QIU J P. Network structure, distribution and the growth of Chinese international research collaboration [J]. Scientometrics, 2014, 98(2): 1221-1233.
[31] NEWMAN M E. The structure of scientific collaboration networks [J]. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2001, 98(2): 404-409.
[32] LI J, LI Y T. Patterns and evolution of coauthorship in China’s humanities and social sciences [J]. Scientometrics, 2015, 102(3): 1997-2010.
[33] AKSNES D W. Citation rates and perceptions of scientific contribution [J]. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2006, 57(2): 169-185.
[34] VAN ECK N J, WALTMAN L, DEKKER R, et al. A comparison of two techniques for bibliometric mapping: Multidimensional scaling and VOS [J]. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 2010, 61(12): 2405-2416.
[35] BORG I, GROENEN P. Modern multidimensional scaling: Theory and applications [J]. Journal of Educational Measurement, 2003, 40(3): 277-280.
[36] NEWMAN M E J, GIRVAN M. Finding and evaluating community structure in networks [J]. Physical Review E, Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, 2004, 69: 026113.
[37] BORNMANN L, HAUNSCHILD R. An empirical look at the nature index [J]. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 2017, 68(3): 653-659.
[38] ARAF Y, AKTER F, TANG Y D, et al. Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2: Genomics, transmissibility, and responses to current COVID-19 vaccines [J]. Journal of Medical Virology, 2022, 94(5): 1825-1832.
[39] WHO. COVID-19 Dashboard [EB/OL]. (2022-05-18) [2022-05-20]. https://covid19.who.int/.
[40] PLANAS D, SAUNDERS N, MAES P, et al. Considerable escape of SARS-CoV-2 omicron to antibody neutralization [J]. Nature, 2022, 602(7898): 671-675.
[41] CHEN J H, WANG R, GILBY N B, et al. Omicron variant (B.1.1.529): Infectivity, vaccine breakthrough, and antibody resistance [J]. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 2022, 62(2): 412-422.
[42] AHMAD F B, ANDERSON R N. The leading causes of death in the US for 2020 [J]. JAMA, 2021, 325(18): 1829.
[43] PL¨UMPER T, NEUMAYER E. Lockdown policies and the dynamics of the first wave of the Sars-CoV-2 pandemic in Europe [J]. Journal of European Public Policy, 2022, 29(3): 321-341.
[44] NIU X S. International scientific collaboration between Australia and China: A mixed-methodology for investigating the social processes and its implications for national innovation systems [J]. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 2014, 85: 58-68.
[45] LUUKKONEN T, PERSSON O, SIVERTSEN G. Understanding patterns of international scientific collaboration [J]. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 1992, 17(1): 101-126.
[46] LAU H, KHOSRAWIPOUR V, KOCBACH P, et al. The positive impact of lockdown in Wuhan on containing the COVID-19 outbreak in China [J]. Journal of Travel Medicine, 2020, 27(3): taaa037.
[47] MONGEON P, PAUL-HUS A. The journal coverage of Web of Science and Scopus: A comparative analysis [J]. Scientometrics, 2016, 106(1): 213-228.
[48] KATZ J S, MARTIN B R. What is research collaboration? [J]. Research Policy, 1997, 26(1): 1-18.
[49] DAVIES B, GUSH J, HENDY S C, et al. Research funding and collaboration [J]. Research Policy, 2022, 51(2): 104421.
[50] WALKER N. Brexit timeline: Events leading to the UK’s exit from the European Union [EB/OL]. (2021-01-06) [2022-05-20]. https://commonslibrary. parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7960/.
[51] WEN J, KOZAK M, YANG S H, et al. COVID-19: Potential effects on Chinese citizens’ lifestyle and travel [J]. Tourism Review, 2021, 76(1): 74-87.
Options
Outlines

/

〈 〉