Identifying Node Importance in a Complex Network Based on Node Bridging Feature

Abstract

Identifying node importance in complex networks is of great significance to improve the network damage resistance and robustness. In the era of big data, the size of the network is huge and the network structure tends to change dynamically over time. Due to the high complexity, the algorithm based on the global information of the network is not suitable for the analysis of large-scale networks. Taking into account the bridging feature of nodes in the local network, this paper proposes a simple and efficient ranking algorithm to identify node importance in complex networks. In the algorithm, if there are more numbers of node pairs whose shortest paths pass through the target node and there are less numbers of shortest paths in its neighborhood, the bridging function of the node between its neighborhood nodes is more obvious, and its ranking score is also higher. The algorithm takes only local information of the target nodes, thereby greatly improving the efficiency of the algorithm. Experiments performed on real and synthetic networks show that the proposed algorithm is more effective than benchmark algorithms on the evaluation criteria of the maximum connectivity coefficient and the decline rate of network efficiency, no matter in the static or dynamic attack manner. Especially in the initial stage of attack, the advantage is more obvious, which makes the proposed algorithm applicable in the background of limited network attack cost.