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arXiv · 2503.02887

Mapping the Intellectual Landscape of Digital Social Networks: A Bibliometric and Citation Network Analysis

Pengjia Cui
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Abstract

Network science and digital social network research span sociology, communication, and computational modeling, yet the field's intellectual structure and cross-paradigm connectivity remain insufficiently characterized. Using records retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection (n = 1,859; queried on 21 November 2024), we conduct a bibliometric, keyword co-occurrence, and citation-network analysis with CiteSpace, VOSviewer, Gephi, and NetworkX. The citation landscape exhibits a strongly centralized core (a largest connected component of 1,293 papers) surrounded by numerous small, weakly connected components, indicating a pronounced core-periphery organization. Keyword clustering and citation-burst analysis further reveal a thematic shift from classic sociological mechanisms (e.g., homophily and tie formation) toward algorithmically mediated communication and misinformation-related topics. We also highlight a set of highly central bridging works that connect otherwise separated thematic communities, suggesting that interdisciplinary exchange is concentrated around a limited number of canonical references.

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Pengjia Cui. 2025-02-12. Mapping the Intellectual Landscape of Digital Social Networks: A Bibliometric and Citation Network Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-026-01617-0

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