Understanding biomedicai research collaborations through social network analysis: A case study

A recent surge of research on social networks and their characteristics has attracted an increasing amount of interests from the community of biomedicine and biomedical informatics. Social network analysis (SNA) methods have been regarded as an effective tool to assess inter- and intra-institution research collaborations in the Clinical Translational Science Award (CTSA) community. In this paper, we present a case study of SNA on the research collaboration networks (RCNs) at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) - a CTSA institution. We have applied graph theoretical analyses to the RCNs prior to and after the CTSA award at UAMS. By virtue of quantitative measures, we have obtained valuable insights into the network dynamics and topological characteristics of the research environment. Moreover, through observing the temporal evolution of the RCNs at UAMS, we are able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the CTSA program and its important role in promoting trans-disciplinary collaborative research within an institution.