Vincent Traag
Biographic Data
| ID | 333563 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Vincent Traag |
| GIVEN NAMES | Vincent |
| FAMILY NAME | Traag |
| SIGNATURE | TRAAG V |
| AFFILIATIONS | Leiden University |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-3170-3879 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 13 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 42 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 13 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Introduction to structural causal models in science studies
Sound causal inference is crucial for advancing the study of science. Incorrectly interpreting predictive effects as causal might lead to ineffective or even detrimental policy recommendations. Many publications in science studies lack appropriate methods to substantiate causal claims. We here provide an introduction to structural causal models for science studies. Structural causal models, usually represented in a graphical form, allow researche…
Metrics and peer review agreement at the institutional level
In recent decades, many countries have started funding academic institutions based on the evaluation of their scientific performance. Postpublication peer review is often used in this context. Bibliometric indicators have been suggested as an alternative to peer review. A recurrent question is whether peer review and metrics yield similar outcomes. In this paper, we study this question based on a sample of publications submitted to the national I…
Inferring the causal effect of journals on citations
Articles in high-impact journals are, on average, more frequently cited. But are they cited more often because those articles are somehow more “citable”? Or are they cited more often simply because they are published in a high-impact journal? Although some evidence suggests the latter, the causal relationship is not clear. We here compare citations of preprints to citations of the published version to uncover the causal mechanism. We build on an …
Investigating scientific mobility in co-authorship networks using multilayer temporal motifs
This paper introduces a framework for understanding complex temporal interaction patterns in large-scale scientific collaboration networks. In particular, we investigate how two key concepts in science studies, scientific collaboration and scientific mobility, are related and possibly differ between fields. We do so by analyzing multilayer temporal motifs: small recurring configurations of nodes and edges. Driven by the problem that many papers s…
Italian sociologists: A community of disconnected groups
From Louvain to Leiden: Guaranteeing well-connected communities
Community detection is often used to understand the structure of large and complex networks. One of the most popular algorithms for uncovering community structure is the so-called Louvain algorithm. We show that this algorithm has a major defect that largely went unnoticed until now: the Louvain algorithm may yield arbitrarily badly connected communities. In the worst case, communities may even be disconnected, especially when running the algorit…
From the margin to the centre? A relational analysis of discursive contention in the minority integration debate in the Low Countries
Minority integration is a highly contested topic in public debates, and assimilationist actors appear to have gained discursive ground. However, it remains difficult to accurately depict how power relations in debates change and evolve. In this study, the public debates on minority integration in Flanders and the Netherlands between 2006 and 2012 are studied to ascertain changing power relations. We use a relational method to identify clusters fo…
Dissecting discursive contention: A relational analysis of the Dutch debate on minority integration, 1990–2006
Turning Digitised Newspapers into Networks of Political Elites
This paper introduces the Elite Network Shifts ( ENS ) project to the Asian Studies community where computational techniques are used with digitised newspaper articles to describe changes in relations among Indonesian political elites. Reflecting on how “political elites” and “political relations” are understood by the elites, as well as across the disciplinary boundaries of the social and computational sciences, it suggests ways to operationalis…
Elite Co-Occurrence in the Media
We present a new computational methodology to identify national political elites, and demonstrate it for Indonesia. On the basis that elites have an “organised capacity to make real and continuing political trouble”, we identify them as those individuals who occur most frequently in a large corpus of politically-oriented newspaper articles. Doing this requires mainly well-established named entity recognition techniques and appears to work well. M…
Old Questions, New Techniques: A Research Note on the Computational Identification of Political Elites
This paper presents a new method of identifying a nation’s political elite using computational techniques on digitised newspaper articles. It begins by describing the three most widely used methods of identifying political elites: positional, decisional and reputational. It then introduces the “reported elite method”, exploring the kinds of elites it detects and how well it reflects the composition of political elites in our case study of Indones…
Trading Communities, the Networked Structure of International Relations, and the Kantian Peace
The authors argue that theories regarding the relationship between trade and conflict could benefit greatly from accounting for the networked structure of international trade. Indirect trade relations reduce the probability of conflict by creating (1) opportunity costs of conflict beyond those reflected by direct trade ties and (2) negative externalities for the potential combatants’ trading partners, giving them an incentive to prevent the confl…
Detecting Communities through Network Data
Social life coalesces into communities through cooperation and conflict. As a case in point, Shwed and Bearman (2010) studied consensus and contention in scientific communities. They used a sophisticated modularity method to detect communities on the basis of scientific citations, which they then interpreted as directed positive network ties. They assumed that a lack of citations implies disagreement. Some scientific citations, however, are conte…
Trading Communities, the Networked Structure of International Relations, and the Kantian Peace
The authors argue that theories regarding the relationship between trade and conflict could benefit greatly from accounting for the networked structure of international trade. Indirect trade relations reduce the probability of conflict by creating (1) opportunity costs of conflict beyond those reflected by direct trade ties and (2) negative externalities for the potential combatants’ trading partners, giving them an incentive to prevent the confl…
Detecting Communities through Network Data
Social life coalesces into communities through cooperation and conflict. As a case in point, Shwed and Bearman (2010) studied consensus and contention in scientific communities. They used a sophisticated modularity method to detect communities on the basis of scientific citations, which they then interpreted as directed positive network ties. They assumed that a lack of citations implies disagreement. Some scientific citations, however, are conte…
Old Questions, New Techniques: A Research Note on the Computational Identification of Political Elites
This paper presents a new method of identifying a nation’s political elite using computational techniques on digitised newspaper articles. It begins by describing the three most widely used methods of identifying political elites: positional, decisional and reputational. It then introduces the “reported elite method”, exploring the kinds of elites it detects and how well it reflects the composition of political elites in our case study of Indones…
Investigating scientific mobility in co-authorship networks using multilayer temporal motifs
This paper introduces a framework for understanding complex temporal interaction patterns in large-scale scientific collaboration networks. In particular, we investigate how two key concepts in science studies, scientific collaboration and scientific mobility, are related and possibly differ between fields. We do so by analyzing multilayer temporal motifs: small recurring configurations of nodes and edges. Driven by the problem that many papers s…
Detecting Communities through Network Data
Social life coalesces into communities through cooperation and conflict. As a case in point, Shwed and Bearman (2010) studied consensus and contention in scientific communities. They used a sophisticated modularity method to detect communities on the basis of scientific citations, which they then interpreted as directed positive network ties. They assumed that a lack of citations implies disagreement. Some scientific citations, however, are conte…
Trading Communities, the Networked Structure of International Relations, and the Kantian Peace
The authors argue that theories regarding the relationship between trade and conflict could benefit greatly from accounting for the networked structure of international trade. Indirect trade relations reduce the probability of conflict by creating (1) opportunity costs of conflict beyond those reflected by direct trade ties and (2) negative externalities for the potential combatants’ trading partners, giving them an incentive to prevent the confl…
Turning Digitised Newspapers into Networks of Political Elites
This paper introduces the Elite Network Shifts ( ENS ) project to the Asian Studies community where computational techniques are used with digitised newspaper articles to describe changes in relations among Indonesian political elites. Reflecting on how “political elites” and “political relations” are understood by the elites, as well as across the disciplinary boundaries of the social and computational sciences, it suggests ways to operationalis…
Elite Co-Occurrence in the Media
We present a new computational methodology to identify national political elites, and demonstrate it for Indonesia. On the basis that elites have an “organised capacity to make real and continuing political trouble”, we identify them as those individuals who occur most frequently in a large corpus of politically-oriented newspaper articles. Doing this requires mainly well-established named entity recognition techniques and appears to work well. M…
Old Questions, New Techniques: A Research Note on the Computational Identification of Political Elites
This paper presents a new method of identifying a nation’s political elite using computational techniques on digitised newspaper articles. It begins by describing the three most widely used methods of identifying political elites: positional, decisional and reputational. It then introduces the “reported elite method”, exploring the kinds of elites it detects and how well it reflects the composition of political elites in our case study of Indones…
Dissecting discursive contention: A relational analysis of the Dutch debate on minority integration, 1990–2006
From Louvain to Leiden: Guaranteeing well-connected communities
Community detection is often used to understand the structure of large and complex networks. One of the most popular algorithms for uncovering community structure is the so-called Louvain algorithm. We show that this algorithm has a major defect that largely went unnoticed until now: the Louvain algorithm may yield arbitrarily badly connected communities. In the worst case, communities may even be disconnected, especially when running the algorit…
From the margin to the centre? A relational analysis of discursive contention in the minority integration debate in the Low Countries
Minority integration is a highly contested topic in public debates, and assimilationist actors appear to have gained discursive ground. However, it remains difficult to accurately depict how power relations in debates change and evolve. In this study, the public debates on minority integration in Flanders and the Netherlands between 2006 and 2012 are studied to ascertain changing power relations. We use a relational method to identify clusters fo…
Italian sociologists: A community of disconnected groups
Inferring the causal effect of journals on citations
Articles in high-impact journals are, on average, more frequently cited. But are they cited more often because those articles are somehow more “citable”? Or are they cited more often simply because they are published in a high-impact journal? Although some evidence suggests the latter, the causal relationship is not clear. We here compare citations of preprints to citations of the published version to uncover the causal mechanism. We build on an …
Investigating scientific mobility in co-authorship networks using multilayer temporal motifs
This paper introduces a framework for understanding complex temporal interaction patterns in large-scale scientific collaboration networks. In particular, we investigate how two key concepts in science studies, scientific collaboration and scientific mobility, are related and possibly differ between fields. We do so by analyzing multilayer temporal motifs: small recurring configurations of nodes and edges. Driven by the problem that many papers s…
Metrics and peer review agreement at the institutional level
In recent decades, many countries have started funding academic institutions based on the evaluation of their scientific performance. Postpublication peer review is often used in this context. Bibliometric indicators have been suggested as an alternative to peer review. A recurrent question is whether peer review and metrics yield similar outcomes. In this paper, we study this question based on a sample of publications submitted to the national I…
Introduction to structural causal models in science studies
Sound causal inference is crucial for advancing the study of science. Incorrectly interpreting predictive effects as causal might lead to ineffective or even detrimental policy recommendations. Many publications in science studies lack appropriate methods to substantiate causal claims. We here provide an introduction to structural causal models for science studies. Structural causal models, usually represented in a graphical form, allow researche…
Political science (8 works) · Sociology (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Complex Network Analysis Techniques (5 works) · Computer Science (5 works) · Law (4 works) · Politics (4 works) · Social Media and Politics (4 works) · Elite (3 works) · Newspaper (3 works)