Domain analysis by means of the visualization of maps of vast scientific domains

Category cocitation and its representation through social networks is proving to be a very adequate technique for the visualization and analysis of great scientific domains. Its combination with PathfinderNetworks using pruning values r = ∞ and q = n – 1 makes manifest the essence of research in the domain represented, or what we might call the “most salient structure”. The possible loss of structural information, caused by agressive pruning in perpheral areas of the networks, is neatly overcome by creating heliocentric maps for each category. The depictions obtained with this procedure become tools of great utility in view of their capacity to reveal the evolution of a given scientific domain over time, to show differences and similarities between different domains, and to suggest possible new lines of development.