Embedded information structures and functions of co-authorship networks: evidence from cancer research collaboration in India

In this exploratory study, we analyze co-authorship networks of collaborative cancer research in India. The complete network is constructed from bibliometric data on published scholarly articles indexed in two well-known electronic databases covering two 6-year windows from 2000 to 2005 and 2006 to 2011 inclusive. Employing a number of important metrics pertaining to the underlying topological structures of the network, we discusses implications for effective policies to enhance knowledge generation and sharing in cancer research in the country. With some modifications, our methods can be applied without difficulty to examine policy structure of related disciplines in other countries of the world.