Social network analysis as a new tool to measure academic impact of physicians

Niketna Vivek; Evan Clark; Lily Gao; Shenmeng Xu; Steven Baskauf; Kirsten Nguyen; Melissa Goldin; Kavita Prasad; Alexis Miller; Panpan Zhang; Shiayin Yang; Sarah Rohde; Michael Topf; Alexander Gelbard

doi:10.1002/lio2.70060

Social network analysis as a new tool to measure academic impact of physicians

Laryngoscope Investig Otolaryngol. 2025 Jan 7;10(1):e70060. doi: 10.1002/lio2.70060. eCollection 2025 Feb.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Nashville Tennessee USA.
² Department of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA.
³ Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries, Digital Lab Vanderbilt University Nashville Tennessee USA.
⁴ Tufts University School of Medicine Boston Massachusetts USA.
⁵ Larner College of Medicine University of Vermont Burlington Vermont USA.
⁶ Department of Biostatistics Vanderbilt University Medical Center Nashville Tennessee USA.

Abstract

Introduction: H-index is a widely used metric quantifying a researcher's productivity and impact based on an author's publications and citations. Though convenient to calculate, h-index fails to incorporate collaborations and interrelationships between physicians into its assessment of academic impact, leading to limited insight into grouped networks. We present social network analysis as a tool to measure relationships between physicians and quantify their academic impact.

Methods: A bibliometric multicenter analysis was conducted on physician faculty from 129 US ACGME accredited otolaryngology programs who have publications with a physician co-author in the field. Using web searches, 2494 physician faculty were identified. Scopus IDs, h-indices, and publication data for these physicians were identified using multiple Elsevier APIs queried in December 2023. Publications with multiple otolaryngology physician co-authors were included. Network and sub network maps were generated using Gephi and analyzed with custom R scripts. Centrality measures (degree, PageRank, betweenness centralities) quantified collaboration propensity. Non-parametric correlation analysis between centrality measures and h-index was conducted. Sankey diagrams were plotted using ggplot2.

Results: A co-authorship network of 2259 physicians was constructed. Physicians were visualized as nodes with collaborations as links. Centrality measures correlated strongly with h-index (h-index vs. degree centrality: r ² = 0.62, h-index vs. PageRank: r ² = 0.55, h-index vs. betweenness centrality: r ² = 0.55; p < .0001). Analysis revealed novel insights into physician network structure, identifying 14 communities primarily populated by single subspecialties with varied node density.

Conclusion: Social network analysis showed moderate correlation between social connectedness measures and h-index, supporting its use in measuring academic impact. In otolaryngology, collaborative interactions within the academic community are strongly shaped by sub-specialty affiliation and academic institution.

Keywords: academic otolaryngology; faculty; h‐index; otolaryngology; publication; social network.