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How small is the center of science? Short cross-disciplinary cycles in co-authorship graphs

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Abstract

Cycles that cross two or more boundaries between disciplines in the co-authorship graph for all of science are used to set upper limits on the number of co-authored papers required to cross 15 disciplines or subdisciplines ranging from macroeconomics to neurology. The upper limits obtained range from one (discrete mathematics, macroeconomics and nuclear physics) to six (neuroscience). The 15 disciplines or subdisciplines examined form a “small world” with an average separation of only 2.0 co-authorship links. It is conjectured that the high-productivity, high average degree centers of all scientific disciplines form a small world, and therefore that the diameter of the co-authorship graph of all of science is only slightly larger than the average diameter of the co-authorship graphs of its subdisciplines.

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Fields, C. How small is the center of science? Short cross-disciplinary cycles in co-authorship graphs. Scientometrics 102, 1287–1306 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-014-1468-3

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