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General Critical Properties
of the Dynamics of Scientific Discovery
Luis M. A. Bettencourt1'2 and David I. Kaiser3
1 Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos NM, USA.
2 Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe NM 87501 U.S.A.
3 Program in Science, Technology, and Society and Center for Theoretical Physics,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, VIA 02139 U.S.A.
Abstract
Scientific fields are difficult to define and compare, yet there is a general sense that
they undergo similar stages of development. From this point of view it becomes im-
portant to determine if these superficial similarities can be translated into a general
framework that would quantify the general advent and subsequent dynamics of scien-
tific ideas. Such a framework would have important practical applications of allowing
us to compare fields that superficially may appear different, in terms of their subject
matter, research techniques, typical collaboration size, etc. Particularly important in
a field's history is the moment at which conceptual and technical unification allows
widespread exchange of ideas and collaboration, at which point networks of collab-
oration show the analog of a percolation phenomenon, developing a giant connected
component containing most authors. Here we investigate the generality of this topo-
logical transition in the collaboration structure of scientific fields as they grow and
become denser. We develop a general theoretical framework in which each scientific
field is an instantiation of the same large-scale topological critical phenomenon. We
consider whether the evidence from a variety of specific fields is consistent with this
picture, and estimate critical exponents associated with the transition. We then discuss
the generality of the phenomenon and to what extent we may expect other scientific
fields - including very large ones - to follow the same dynamics.
Keywords: Evolution of Science - Complex Networks
Critical Phenomena - Discovery - Topological Transition
1 Introduction
The evolution of science and technology is a subject of enormous intellectual and societal
importance. One inescapable feature has been the explosion of scientific publishing in re-
cent decades, along with the enormous growth in the indexing and availability of scholarly1
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Bettencourt, L. M. A. (LANL) & Kaiser, D. I. (MIT). General Critical Properties of the Dynamics of Scientific Discovery, report, May 31, 2011; United States. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc829930/m1/1/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.