Mining social networks of Thai researchers in IT-related areas

Abstract

This research focuses on the study of social networks of Thai researchers that conducted research in the computer science and information technology fields and submitted their works to two conferences which are the International Joint Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering (JCSSE) and the National Computer Science and Engineering Conference (NCSEC) between 2005 and 2008. The bibliographical data which appeared in their research was extracted for database construction. The principle of Social Network Analysis was applied for data analysis in order to find relationships between researchers, research topic categories, conferences and years in which they were organized. The data analysis enables users to know which researchers in Thailand conducted their research in what area, to which academic institutes they were attached, and who were their co-authors. In addition, the analysis result also allows users to see trends of research topics of Thai researchers. It was hoped that as a result of this analysis, the derived database will be useful for people who wish to search for research data in areas in which they are interested. Similarly, government agencies working on the promotion and support of research work will be informed of research trends in Thailand so as to speed up work in support of conducting research in significant areas or those in which the country is lacking. © 2011 IEEE.