Organizational and dynamical aspects of a small network with two distinct communities: Neo-creationists vs. Evolution Defenders

Anselmo Cantú; Marcel Ausloos

doi:10.1007/s11192-008-2065-0

Scientometrics

Volume/Issue:: Volume 80: Issue 2

Organizational and dynamical aspects of a small network with two distinct communities: Neo-creationists vs. Evolution Defenders

Authors:

Anselmo Cantú

Anselmo Cantú GRAPES, SUPRATECS, Université de Liége, B5 Sart-Tilman, B-4000 Liége, Belgium

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Marcel Ausloos

Marcel Ausloos GRAPES, SUPRATECS, Université de Liége, B5 Sart-Tilman, B-4000 Liége, Belgium

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Pages:: 457–472

Online Publication Date:: 21 Apr 2009

Publication Date:: 01 Aug 2009

Article Category:: Research Article

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-008-2065-0

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Abstract

Social impacts and degrees of organization inherent to opinion formation for interacting agents on networks present interesting questions of general interest from physics to sociology. We present a quantitative analysis of a case implying an evolving small size network, i.e. that inherent to the ongoing debate between modern creationists (most are Intelligent Design (ID) proponents (IDP) and Darwin’s theory of Evolution Defenders (DED)). This study is carried out by analyzing the structural properties of the citation network unfolded in the recent decades by publishing works belonging to members of the two communities. With the aim of capturing the dynamical aspects of the interaction between the IDP and DED groups, we focus on two key quantities, namely, the degree of activity of each group and the corresponding degree of impact on the intellectual community at large. A representative measure of the former is provided by the rate of production of publications (RPP), whilst the latter can be assimilated to the rate of increase in citations (RIC). These quantities are determined, respectively, by the slope of the time series obtained for the number of publications accumulated per year and by the slope of a similar time series obtained for the corresponding citations. The results indicate that in this case, the dynamics can be seen as geared by triggered or damped competition. The network is a specific example of marked heterogeneity in exchange of information activity in and between the communities, particularly demonstrated through the nodes having a high connectivity degree, i.e. opinion leaders.

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Scientometrics

Print ISSN:: 0138-9130

Online ISSN:: 1588-2861

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Scientometrics
Language	English
Size	B5
Year of Foundation	1978
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Issues per Year	12
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Founder's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Publisher	Akadémiai Kiadó Springer Nature Switzerland AG
Publisher's Address	H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245. CH-6330 Cham, Switzerland Gewerbestrasse 11.
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ISSN	0138-9130 (Print)
ISSN	1588-2861 (Online)