Mina Ghobadi

Thesis topic: Analysis of the Evolution of Collaboration and Publication Activities in a Group of Young Researchers

Related project: RIMA

Supervisor: Dr. Arham Muslim

Thesis duration: 03/2018 - 10/2018

 

Description

Scientific production is a dynamic process in the structural and topic dimension. The structural dimension comprises relationships between researchers (e.g. co-authorships) or citations between publications. These relations evolve over time and can be represented as dynamic networks and analysed using social network analysis techniques. In addition, the topic dimension reflects the thematic orientation of researchers. Both dimensions co-evolve, i.e. collaborations and research topics influence each other. Especially young researchers can benefit from analysis tools and visualisations making this evolution more explicit in terms of self-reflection and strategic planning. PALM is a platform that provides a range of user-centric and group-centric measures as well as topic visualisations that reflect scientific production and collaboration.

The goal of this thesis project is to extend the PALM platform by integrating new functionalities for the systematic analysis and visual exploration of evolving research communities. The new module should support a user-centric and group-centric view on the evolution of publication networks. In particular, a researcher can use the platform to reflect on the changes of their own personal influences and collaborations over time.