Perception, prestige and PageRank
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Zeitlyn, David
Hook, Daniel W
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Academic prestige is difficult to quantify in objective terms. Network theory offers the opportunity to use a mathematical formalism to model both the prestige associated with an academic and the relationships between academic colleagues. Early attempts using this line of
reasoning have focused on intellectual genealogy as constituted by supervisor student networks. The process of examination is critical in many areas of study but has not played a
part in existing models. A network theoretical “social” model is proposed as a tool to explore
and understand the dynamics of prestige in the academic hierarchy. It is observed that such
a model naturally gives rise to the idea that the prestige associated with a node in the graph
(the prestige of an individual academic) can be viewed as a dynamic quantity that evolves
with time based on both local and non-local changes in the properties in the network. The
toy model studied here includes both supervisor-student and examiner-student relationships. This gives an insight into some of the key features of academic genealogies and naturally leads to a proposed model for “prestige propagation” on academic networks. This
propagation is not solely directed forward in time (from teacher to progeny) but sometimes
also flows in the other direction. As collaborators do well, this reflects well on those with
whom they choose to collaborate and those that taught them. Furthermore, prestige as a
quantity continues to be dynamic even after the end of a relationship or career. Given that
time ordering of relationships on the network are implicit but that measures such as
betweenness are independent of this implicit time dependence: the success of a PhD student later in their career can improve the prestige of their doctoral supervisor. Thus, prestige
can be interpreted to have dynamics that flow both forward and backward in time.
reasoning have focused on intellectual genealogy as constituted by supervisor student networks. The process of examination is critical in many areas of study but has not played a
part in existing models. A network theoretical “social” model is proposed as a tool to explore
and understand the dynamics of prestige in the academic hierarchy. It is observed that such
a model naturally gives rise to the idea that the prestige associated with a node in the graph
(the prestige of an individual academic) can be viewed as a dynamic quantity that evolves
with time based on both local and non-local changes in the properties in the network. The
toy model studied here includes both supervisor-student and examiner-student relationships. This gives an insight into some of the key features of academic genealogies and naturally leads to a proposed model for “prestige propagation” on academic networks. This
propagation is not solely directed forward in time (from teacher to progeny) but sometimes
also flows in the other direction. As collaborators do well, this reflects well on those with
whom they choose to collaborate and those that taught them. Furthermore, prestige as a
quantity continues to be dynamic even after the end of a relationship or career. Given that
time ordering of relationships on the network are implicit but that measures such as
betweenness are independent of this implicit time dependence: the success of a PhD student later in their career can improve the prestige of their doctoral supervisor. Thus, prestige
can be interpreted to have dynamics that flow both forward and backward in time.
Date Issued
2019-05-28
Date Acceptance
2019-04-29
Citation
PLoS One, 2019, 14 (5)
ISSN
1932-6203
Publisher
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Journal / Book Title
PLoS One
Volume
14
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2019 Zeitlyn, Hook. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.
access article distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original
author and source are credited.
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000469224300009&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
ACADEMIC GENEALOGY
FIELD
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
e0216783
Date Publish Online
2019-05-28