RC-Network and Comm-Network for Improvement of Research Collaboration and Communication Among Delhi University Teachers

Research collaboration studies have become significant indicators of research, productivity, and developments of organizations. In the research work, the authors have proposed and construct research collaboration network (RC-network) and communication network (Comm-network) for the Delhi University teachers. Teachers are treated as vertices, and two vertices are connected if they have written a research document together in the case of RC-network, whereas if they communicate (talk about education, politics, rights, or other socially relevant issues) with each other, then it is a case of Comm-network. In the research work carried out, the researchers have collected the data through different resources and questionnaires. There are 712 teachers’ records of research document and 214 teacher’s records from questionnaire in the collected data. Two networks are constructed as RC-network and Comm-network. The researchers have found through the study that both networks follow scale-free degree distribution as reported by the other similar study. These networks unpacked several hidden characteristics of collaboration and communication among teachers of Delhi University. Constructed networks are sparse and partitioned in huge number of connected components. Moreover, they have identified the key clusters of research collaborations and communications among teachers. These clusters consist of teachers mostly from the same college or department or center. This indicates that the research collaborations are not of interdisciplinary nature in Delhi University. Even the communications among the teachers from different disciplines or colleges take place less frequently than those among the teachers from the same discipline or college. This study may prove to be helpful in improving and understanding the research and communication among teachers of Delhi University.