How new concepts become universal scientific approaches – insights from citation network analysis of agent-based complex systems science

Progress in understanding and managing complex systems comprised of decision-making agents, such as cells, organisms, ecosystems, or societies, is—like many scientific endeavors—limited by disciplinary boundaries. These boundaries, however, are moving and can actively be made porous or even disappear. To study this process, we advanced an original bibliometric approach based on network analysis to track and understand the development of the model-based science of agent-based complex systems (ACS). We analyzed research citations between the two communities devoted to ACS research, namely agent-based (ABM) and individual-based modeling (IBM). Both terms refer to the same approach, yet the former is preferred in engineering and social sciences, while the latter prevails in natural sciences. This situation provided a unique case study for grasping how a new concept evolves distinctly across scientific domains and how to foster convergence into a universal scientific approach. The present an...