The authors' correct identification is a critical factor in studies of Social Network Analysis (SNA) involving co-authorship networks. The objective of this paper is to present the differences in properties between three co-authorship networks, generated from 28,916 articles on sustainability indexed in ISI/Web of Science, with different methods of identifying the authors. Density, diameter, average degree, Watts-Strogatz clusterization coefficient, giant component and the degree distributions were analyzed. The results indicated significant differences among networks, suggesting that studies based on co-authorship networks involving SNA may have impaired results if a proper treatment of authors' names is not performed.
Social Network Analysis; Co-authorship; Disambiguation; Sustainability; Web of Science
