Citation Network Builder

A skill for constructing, analyzing, and visualizing citation networks from academic reference data. Covers data collection from bibliographic databases, network construction using direct citation, co-citation, and bibliographic coupling methods, community detection for identifying research clusters, and practical visualization with tools like Gephi, VOSviewer, and Python NetworkX.

Data Collection and Preparation

Source Databases

Citation network analysis requires structured bibliographic data with reference lists. The choice of database determines coverage and available metadata.

Database Comparison for Citation Analysis:

Web of Science (Clarivate):
  - Format: ISI/WoS plain text, BibTeX, CSV
  - Coverage: ~21,000 journals, back to 1900
  - Strengths: Cited reference data is most complete
  - Limits: 1,000 records per export, subscription required
  - Best for: High-quality citation network analysis