Main Path Analysis for Mapping a Research Field
How to map a research field from its citation network: choose the boundary of the field, build the network of citations inside it, weight each citation by how many citation chains run through it, follow the heaviest chain (the main path) and its neighbours (key routes), test the result on other boundaries, and draw it by year in lanes named as questions.
Where it sits
left: what it builds on · right: what builds on it · pale: exampleBy e2er authors
How studies reach it
No published study reaches it yet.
Disciplines it reaches
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Solid: published studies. Light: examples.
Computed from the records on this site: what each study, template and specialist names as used, which study extends which, and who authored what. 0 studies in total.
Provenance
- Project
- e2er bundled skills
- Maintained by
- e2er authors
- Licence
- MIT
- Source file
- bhanneke/E2ER-project/blob/v0.16.1/skills/files/synthesis/main-path-analysis.md
- Identifier
- e2er/synthesis/main-path-analysis
Use it
Ships with every installation of e2er.
Sources
- Based on
Hron, M. (2026). Map a research field with Claude: main path analysis, step by step. LinkedIn Pulse, 8 October 2026.Taken from it: The six-step workflow: a boundary of search terms and journals, the internal citation network with completeness checks, SPC weights, the main path with key routes, robustness across alternative journal sets, and a map with topic lanes named as questions; and the pitfalls the article lists.e2er's own: The code (OpenAlex retrieval, network, SPC, main paths, key routes, cycle handling, robustness, exports, map), the template's steps and researcher stops, the specialists' instructions, and the field review whose numbers e2er checks.Read on 8 October 2026, shared by Björn Hanneke.
- Related work
Michal Hron, scopus-plus-mcp (Scopus MCP server with a main-path skill), MIT licence. Hron's implementation on Scopus. Not used and not copied; e2er's implementation is independent and uses OpenAlex.
- Methods
Norman P. Hummon and Patrick Doreian (1989). Connectivity in a citation network: The development of DNA theory. Social Networks 11(1), 39-63.
Vladimir Batagelj (2003). Efficient algorithms for citation network analysis. arXiv cs/0309023.
John S. Liu and Louis Y. Y. Lu (2012). An integrated approach for main path analysis: Development of the Hirsch index as an example. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology 63(3), 528-542.
Description
Data model- Discipline
- Economics
- Method family
- not specified
- Design
- not specified
- Research stage
- Literature synthesis
- Authors
- e2er authors (Software, Methodology)
- Usage
- used in 1 template · loaded by 3 specialists
- Source
- e2er repository · skills/files · @d8fd8ab
- Record
- skill:e2er/synthesis/main-path-analysis · JSON
Solid tags are declared by the source or mapped from its terms; dashed tags are inferred by a published rule. Hover a tag for its provenance.
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