Web-science communication in the age of globalization

Abstract

The web is important for academic communication and publishing on an international scale, but it is difficult to assess the extent to which globalization actually has occurred. This article examines the connectivity structure of links between university websites in 25 Asian and European countries as a case study of an inter-regional and intra-regional web phenomenon. The five most linked-to universities in each nation-state were selected and network analysis techniques were used. The results suggested that the UK (and to a lesser extent some other European countries) has a high impact on the formation of link-xmediated academic networks in Asia and Europe. Universities’ websites in Asia are more heavily connected to European universities than linked to each other. The overall findings were indicative of globalization rather than regionalism, but a better characterization might be globalization with regional imbalances and individual high performing countries.