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A few notes on main path analysis

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Abstract

The last few years have seen a growing interest in main path analysis among scholars across a wide spectrum of disciplines. Hummon and Doreian first introduced this method, and it has since become an effective technique for mapping technological trajectories, exploring scientific knowledge flows, and conducting literature reviews. Nevertheless, there are issues not broadly discussed in applying the method, including the handling of citation data, choosing a proper traversal weight scheme, search options, and interpretation of the resulting paths. This note aims to deepen the discussions and concludes with several suggestions and strategies in applying main path analysis.

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Notes

  1. Revision history of Pajek can be found on the website http://mrvar.fdv.uni-lj.si/pajek/history.htm.

  2. The number of references for 4751701 is 22, or much higher than that of its neighbors on the main paths, 5012467, 4560984 and 4598285, which are 10, 7 and 6, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

We thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments which have greatly improved the accuracy and readability of this article. This work is partially supported by Taiwan's Ministry of Science and Technology grants MOST 105-2410-H-011-021-MY3, 107-2410-H-155-046, and 106-2410-H-011-028-MY2.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Technology Management, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan

    John S. Liu & Mei Hsiu-Ching Ho

  2. College of Management, Yuan Ze University, 135 Yuan-Tung Road, Chung-Li, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Louis Y. Y. Lu

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  1. John S. Liu
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  2. Louis Y. Y. Lu
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  3. Mei Hsiu-Ching Ho
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Correspondence to John S. Liu.

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Liu, J.S., Lu, L.Y.Y. & Ho, M.HC. A few notes on main path analysis. Scientometrics 119, 379–391 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-019-03034-x

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