A Semi-Automated Approach Based on Network Analysis to Suggest New Collaborations and Foster Multisite Clinical Trials

Several research institutions nowadays collaboratively conduct many scientific projects. Within a national Italian initiative on robotic rehabilitation, this study aims to develop new collaborations that can support the project's missions. Bibliographic information from previous publications realized by the centers that are part of the initiative allowed us to model existing partnerships among research institutions as a network of collaboration. We then designed and implemented an algorithm able to suggest new collaborations among the institutions based on the bibliograph-ic-based network. The results show that using previous publications to suggest new collabora-tions between research centers can be a promising way to develop new partnerships within a group of research centers. However, the number of suggestions can be significant, so criteria should be defined to prioritize the relevant suggestions according to the needs.