Ranking themes on co-word networks: Exploring the relationships among different metrics

As network analysis methods prevail, more metrics are applied to co-word networks to reveal hot topics in a field. However, few studies have examined the relationships among these metrics. To bridge this gap, this study explores the relationships among different ranking metrics, including one frequency-based and six network-based metrics, in order to understand the impact of network structural features on ranking themes on co-word networks. We collected bibliographic data from three disciplines from Web of Science (WoS), and generated 40 simulation networks following the preferential attachment assumption. Correlation analysis on the empirical and simulated networks shows strong relationships among the metrics. Their relationships are consistent across disciplines. The metrics can be categorized into three groups according to the strength of their correlations, where Degree Centrality, H-index, and Coreness are in one group, Betweenness Centrality, Clustering Coefficient, and frequency in another, and Weighted PageRank by itself. Regression analysis on the simulation networks reveals that network topology properties, such as connectivity, sparsity, and aggregation, influence the relationships among selected metrics. In addition, when comparing the top keywords ranked by the metrics in the three disciplines, we found the metrics exhibit different discriminative capacity. Coreness and H index may be better suited for categorizing keywords rather than ranking keywords. Findings from this study contribute to a better understanding of the relationships among different metrics and provide guidance for using them effectively in different contexts.