Science network in Italian population research: an analysis according the social network perspective

The scientific community organises its relationships into network patterns, where the nodes are\r\nindividuals (scientists) and the links are acquaintance and common work, usually presented at\r\nworkshops and conferences and/or published in books and scientific journals. A references review\r\non Population Studies by Italian scientists is delivered every two years by the Demography Section\r\nof the Italian Statistical Society; the review is exhaustive for academic demographers.\r\nIn this paper, the properties of the demographers’ network in 1998–1999 are evaluated, with\r\nthe aim of identifying factors which may influence collaborative relations among actors. The\r\nprobability of cooperation between couples (dyads) of demographers is modelled, conditionally on\r\nobserved characteristics of the dyad (sex, academic position, university affiliation). Main results\r\nsuggest that “closeness”, defined in a wider sense and not simply as geographical proximity, plays\r\na major role in determining actors’ relationships.