2002/12/01 by Evelien Otte, Ronald Rousseau · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Computer Science · #Complex Network Analysis Techniques #Web visibility and informetrics #Opinion Dynamics and Social Influence
paper · doi:10.1177/016555150202800601
openalex publication_date 2002/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
Social network analysis (SNA) is not a formal theory in sociology but rather a strategy for investigating social structures. As it is an idea that can be applied in many fields, we study, in particular, its influence in the information sciences. Information scientists study publication, citation and co-citation networks, collaboration structures and other forms of social interaction networks. Moreover, the Internet represents a social network of an unprecedented scale. In all these studies social network analysis can successfully be applied. SNA is further related to recent theories concerning the free market economy, geography and transport networks. The growth of SNA is documented and a co-author network of SNA is drawn. Centrality measures of the SNA network are calculated.