Analyzing the Structure of the Centrality-Productivity Literature Created Between 1948 and 1979

Abstract

Science grows and cumulates on the research fronts of disciplinary specialties, implying that the most fruitful citation analyses will be those looking at well-defined specialties or subspecial ties. The entire literature on centrality and productivity from 1948 to 1979 is used to construct a citation network. Methods are proposed for the analysis of the connective structure of such networks and then applied to the centrality-productivity citation structure. These methods permit identification of the main paths through this literature, distinct intellectual phases, and key articles contributing to the cumulative formation ofknowledge about centrality and productivity in social networks. From 1948 through 1956, centrality and program were integrated in a single research program. By the early 1960s, there were two research streams. One focused on measuring centrality in graphs but lost the substantive focus on productivity. The other branch continued the experimental focus on productivity but lost the idea of centrality.