Network Dynamics and Communities in Applied Biomedical Research

We investigate the emergence and structuration of the research on prion. Resorting to bibliometric data and tools from social network analysis, we look at the progressive appearance of a dense social network of researchers working on prion. We suggest that the relevant unit of analysis of medical knowledge creation is the community. We then detail how isolated communities emerge and connect to one another to produce a connected network. We then investigate the link creation dynamics to understand the collaboration patterns that the emergence of the observed macro-structures explains at a micro-level, showing that these micro-dynamics evolve over time as the field matures. JEL Codes: O31, O33, D8