Time evolution of Wikipedia network ranking
This work provides insights into network evolution for researchers in data science and web analysis, but it is incremental as it applies existing ranking methods to temporal Wikipedia data.
The study analyzed the ranking and spectral properties of the Wikipedia hyperlink network from 2003 to 2011, finding stabilization in these properties from 2007 onward, with PageRank dominated by politicians and 2DRank highlighting arts personalities, and Wikipedia PageRank recovering 80% of top universities in the Shanghai ranking.
We study the time evolution of ranking and spectral properties of the Google matrix of English Wikipedia hyperlink network during years 2003 - 2011. The statistical properties of ranking of Wikipedia articles via PageRank and CheiRank probabilities, as well as the matrix spectrum, are shown to be stabilized for 2007 - 2011. A special emphasis is done on ranking of Wikipedia personalities and universities. We show that PageRank selection is dominated by politicians while 2DRank, which combines PageRank and CheiRank, gives more accent on personalities of arts. The Wikipedia PageRank of universities recovers 80 percents of top universities of Shanghai ranking during the considered time period.