Bibliographic coupling and types of centralities: A review of ASME journals - 2000 to 2020

Abstract

The present study deals with one of the three primary citation analysis methods, i.e., bibliographic coupling. It is believed that the two with the more common references are more related and have similar research interests. The study examined the author’s bibliographic coupling structure with the help of network analysis metrics and found a stronger association between the authors who contributed to the ASME journals. The analysis was conducted at the global level and the local level. In the global level analysis, the bibliographic coupling network analysed by the metrics like average degree, average weighted degree, the diameter of the network, average shortest path length, modularity, and average clustering coefficient. The local level analysis deals with cluster wise analysis to find dominant authors with the most bibliographical coupling strength. The top 50 bibliographically coupled authors represented in the study. Different types of centralities are used to retrieve different aspects and roles of authors in bibliographic coupling. Han, Je-Chin has found the highest bibliographic coupling strength with 53789 total link strengths. Zhu, Hui-Ren is the author who influences other authors in bibliographic coupling relation as his closeness centrality is 1.00. Li, Wei is the most prominent author who helps to expand the bibliographical coupling relation as his betweenness centrality is 13008.13. The study shows an individual network of the top ten bibliographically coupled authors and their coupling relation with others.