Online Research Community of a Philippine State University: A Social Network Analysis

Abstract

Communities of researchers have begun to adopt online social networking sites to interact and share research outputs. This paper attempted to visualize the online research community of fifty faculty researchers in a state university in Northern Mindanao. Social network analysis, using Gephi, was used to uncover the modularity and centrality characteristics of the research networks among faculty researchers. Results revealed that five modularity classes emerged with varied group attributes: research leaders, multi-disciplinary teams, discipline experts, and less connected faculty researchers. Centrality patterns disclosed that the highly connected and influential faculty researchers are the university research leaders and those well-published and frequently cited. The university may continue its efforts to establish a culture of collaborative research among the faculty. Other universities may benchmark from this case and innovate their research practices.