Scalable Learning-Based Community-Preserving Graph Generation

Graph generation plays an essential role in understanding the formation of complex network structures across various fields, such as biological and social networks. Recent studies have shifted towards employing deep learning methods to grasp the topology of graphs. Yet, most current graph generators fail to adequately capture the community structure, which stands out as a critical and distinctive aspect of graphs. Additionally, these generators are generally limited to smaller graphs because of their inefficiencies and scaling challenges. This paper introduces the Community-Preserving Graph Adversarial Network (CPGAN), designed to effectively simulate graphs. CPGAN leverages graph convolution networks within its encoder and maintains shared parameters during generation to encapsulate community structure data and ensure permutation invariance. We also present the Scalable Community-Preserving Graph Attention Network (SCPGAN), aimed at enhancing the scalability of our model. SCPGAN considerably cuts down on inference and training durations, as well as GPU memory usage, through the use of an ego-graph sampling approach and a short-pipeline autoencoder framework. Tests conducted on six real-world graph datasets reveal that CPGAN manages a beneficial balance between efficiency and simulation quality when compared to leading-edge baselines. Moreover, SCPGAN marks substantial strides in model efficiency and scalability, successfully increasing the size of generated graphs to the 10 million node level while maintaining competitive quality, on par with other advanced learning models.

Authors

Institutions

Publication Details

Journal
IEEE Transactions on Big Data
Published
2025-01-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1109/tbdata.2025.3533898
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
10.33
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
article

Scalable Learning-Based Community-Preserving Graph Generation

Dawei Cheng, Ying Zhang, Sheng Xiang, Chenhao Xu
3 citations
IEEE Transactions on Big Data
Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
10.33
article

Scalable Learning-Based Community-Preserving Graph Generation

Dawei Cheng, Ying Zhang, Sheng Xiang, Chenhao Xu
article en
3 citations

Abstract

Graph generation plays an essential role in understanding the formation of complex network structures across various fields, such as biological and social networks. Recent studies have shifted towards employing deep learning methods to grasp the topology of graphs. Yet, most current graph generators fail to adequately capture the community structure, which stands out as a critical and distinctive aspect of graphs. Additionally, these generators are generally limited to smaller graphs because of their inefficiencies and scaling challenges. This paper introduces the Community-Preserving Graph Adversarial Network (CPGAN), designed to effectively simulate graphs. CPGAN leverages graph convolution networks within its encoder and maintains shared parameters during generation to encapsulate community structure data and ensure permutation invariance. We also present the Scalable Community-Preserving Graph Attention Network (SCPGAN), aimed at enhancing the scalability of our model. SCPGAN considerably cuts down on inference and training durations, as well as GPU memory usage, through the use of an ego-graph sampling approach and a short-pipeline autoencoder framework. Tests conducted on six real-world graph datasets reveal that CPGAN manages a beneficial balance between efficiency and simulation quality when compared to leading-edge baselines. Moreover, SCPGAN marks substantial strides in model efficiency and scalability, successfully increasing the size of generated graphs to the 10 million node level while maintaining competitive quality, on par with other advanced learning models.

IEEE Transactions on Big DataVol. 11(5)
University of Technology Sydney (AU), Tongji University (CN), Peking University (CN)
Openalex Percentile: Top 3%
Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods
10.33
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.

Scalable Learning-Based Community-Preserving Graph Generation — Dawei Cheng, Ying Zhang, et al. · IEEE Transactions on Big Data (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS