Measuring the relative intensity of collaboration within a network

In research fields like informetrics or patent research, international comparisons are part of their core business. One class of measures used in such comparisons consists of affinity indices. Here, relations of shares are calculated to express the relation between two actors X and Y. Even though this group of affinity indices already has many members, we think that based on pure logic, they still miss the point. For this reason, we introduce the RIC index. This index compares two shares: the share of actor Y within a given set X to the share of Y within the complement of X. After motivating and introducing this new index, we show some of its basic characteristics, the most interesting one being that increased collaboration between two countries leads to an increase in the value of RIC. Moreover, this index is asymmetric. The RIC index is illustrated with the examples of China and the USA within the global network of collaboration 2000-2020.

Automated summary

In research fields like informetrics or patent research, international comparisons are essential and affinity indices are commonly used to express the relationship between two actors. The newly introduced RIC index compares the shares of actor Y within a given set X to the share of Y within the complement of X, with the key characteristic being that increased collaboration between two countries results in an increase in the value of RIC. Additionally, the index is asymmetric and is illustrated using China and the USA's collaboration in the global network from 2000-2020 as examples.