Mixed coordinate Node link Visualization for Co_authorship Hypergraph Networks

Abstract: We present an algorithmic technique for visualizing the co-authorship networks and other networks modeled with hypergraphs (set systems). As more than two researchers can co-author a paper, a direct representation of the interaction of researchers through their joint works cannot be adequately modeled with direct links between the author-nodes. A hypergraph representation of a co-authorship network treats researchers/authors as nodes and papers as hyperedges (sets of authors). The visualization algorithm that we propose is based on one of the well-studied approaches representing both authors and papers as nodes of different classes. Our approach resembles some known ones like anchored maps but introduces some special techniques for optimizing the vertex positioning. The algorithm involves both continuous (force-directed) optimization and discrete optimization for determining the node coordinates. Moreover, one of the novelties of this work is classifying nodes and links using different colors. This usage has a meaningful purpose that helps the viewer to obtain valuable information from the visualization and increases the readability of the layout. The algorithm is tuned to enable the viewer to answer questions specific to co-authorship network studies.