A density-based framework for community detection in attributed networks
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arXiv
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2025
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| _version_ | 1866908740752506880 |
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| author | Geremia, Sara Fop, Michael De Stefano, Domenico |
| author_facet | Geremia, Sara Fop, Michael De Stefano, Domenico |
| contents | Community structure in social and collaborative networks often emerges from a complex interplay between structural mechanisms, such as degree heterogeneity and leader-driven attraction, and homophily on node attributes. Existing community detection methods typically focus on these dimensions in isolation, limiting their ability to recover interpretable communities in presence of such mechanisms. In this paper, we propose AttDeCoDe, an attribute-driven extension of a density-based community detection framework, developed to analyse networks where node characteristics play a central role in group formation. Instead of defining density purely from network topology, AttDeCoDe estimates node-wise density in the attribute space, allowing communities to form around attribute-based community representatives while preserving structural connectivity constraints. This approach naturally captures homophily-driven aggregation while remaining sensitive to leader influence. We evaluate the proposed method through a simulation study based on a novel generative model that extends the degree-corrected stochastic block model by incorporating attribute-driven leader attraction, reflecting key features of collaborative research networks. We perform an empirical application to research collaboration data from the Horizon programmes, where organisations are characterised by project-level thematic descriptors. Both results show that AttDeCoDe offers a flexible and interpretable framework for community detection in attributed networks achieving competitive performance relative to topology-based and attribute-assisted benchmarks. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2512_24336 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | A density-based framework for community detection in attributed networks Geremia, Sara Fop, Michael De Stefano, Domenico Social and Information Networks Applications Community structure in social and collaborative networks often emerges from a complex interplay between structural mechanisms, such as degree heterogeneity and leader-driven attraction, and homophily on node attributes. Existing community detection methods typically focus on these dimensions in isolation, limiting their ability to recover interpretable communities in presence of such mechanisms. In this paper, we propose AttDeCoDe, an attribute-driven extension of a density-based community detection framework, developed to analyse networks where node characteristics play a central role in group formation. Instead of defining density purely from network topology, AttDeCoDe estimates node-wise density in the attribute space, allowing communities to form around attribute-based community representatives while preserving structural connectivity constraints. This approach naturally captures homophily-driven aggregation while remaining sensitive to leader influence. We evaluate the proposed method through a simulation study based on a novel generative model that extends the degree-corrected stochastic block model by incorporating attribute-driven leader attraction, reflecting key features of collaborative research networks. We perform an empirical application to research collaboration data from the Horizon programmes, where organisations are characterised by project-level thematic descriptors. Both results show that AttDeCoDe offers a flexible and interpretable framework for community detection in attributed networks achieving competitive performance relative to topology-based and attribute-assisted benchmarks. |
| title | A density-based framework for community detection in attributed networks |
| topic | Social and Information Networks Applications |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.24336 |