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Updated: Aug 6, 2026
08:01
A Web Tool for Generating High Quality Machine-readable Biological Pathways
Published on: February 8, 2017
Wikipedias: collaborative web-based encyclopedias as complex networks
V Zlatić1, M Bozicević, H Stefancić
1Theoretical Physics Division, Rudjer Bosković Institute, P.O. Box 180, HR-10002 Zagreb, Croatia.
Summary
Wikipedia
Area of Science:
- Network science
- Computational social science
- Information science
Background:
- Wikipedia is a collaboratively edited, multilingual online encyclopedia.
- Understanding the structure and growth of large-scale information networks is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To analyze Wikipedia language versions as complex networks.
- To identify common network characteristics and growth processes across different Wikipedias.
Main Methods:
- Representing Wikipedia articles as nodes and hyperlinks as directed links.
- Analyzing network properties including degree distributions, topology, and path lengths.
- Comparing Wikipedia network characteristics to other known complex networks.
Main Results:
- Multiple language versions of Wikipedia exhibit similar network characteristics.
- Common features include degree distributions, growth patterns, topology, reciprocity, clustering, assortativity, path lengths, and triad significance profiles.
- These regularities suggest a universal growth process for Wikipedia.
Conclusions:
- Wikipedia's structure across languages points to a consistent underlying growth mechanism.
- Wikipedia networks share properties with other complex networks, offering insights into information dissemination and organization.
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