A Neighbor-based Link Prediction Method for Bipartite Networks

Social network analysis’ link prediction has a diverse range of applications in different areas of science. Bipartite networks are a kind of complex network, which can be used to describe various real-world phenomena. In this article, a link prediction method for bipartite network is presented. Uni-partite link prediction methods are not effective and efficient enough to be applied to bipartite networks. Thus, to solve this problem, distinct methods specifically designed for bipartite networks are required. The proposed method is neighbor based and consisted of measures of such. Classic uni-partite link prediction measures are redefined to be compatible with bipartite network. Subsequently, these modified measures are used as the basis of the presented method, which in addition to simplicity, has high performance rates and is superior to other neighbor-based methods by 15% in average.