Title: Data-driven modeling of collaboration networks: A cross-domain analysis,
Abstract: We analyze large-scale data sets about collaborations from two different
domains: economics, specifically 22.000 R&D alliances between 14.500 firms, and
science, specifically 300.000 co-authorship relations between 95.000
scientists. Considering the different domains of the data sets, we address two
questions: (a) to what extent do the collaboration networks reconstructed from
the data share common structural features, and (b) can their structure be
reproduced by the same agent-based model. In our data-driven modeling approach
we use aggregated network data to calibrate the probabilities at which agents
establish collaborations with either newcomers or established agents. The model
is then validated by its ability to reproduce network features not used for
calibration, including distributions of degrees, path lengths, local clustering
coefficients and sizes of disconnected components. Emphasis is put on comparing
domains, but also sub-domains (economic sectors, scientific specializations).
Interpreting the link probabilities as strategies for link formation, we find
that in R&D collaborations newcomers prefer links with established agents,
while in co-authorship relations newcomers prefer links with other newcomers.
Our results shed new light on the long-standing question about the role of
endogenous and exogenous factors (i.e., different information available to the
initiator of a collaboration) in network formation.