Chronological corpora curve clustering: From scientific corpora construction to knowledge dynamics discovery through word life-cycles clustering

Abstract

Aim of this procedural method is to construct well-founded corpora of scientific literature, and, hence, to track the evolution of knowledge fields from the reconstruction and clustering of words’ life-cycles. The method contains: • an original selection process of relevant keywords involving the identification of relevant stems and stem n-grams through a matching with item lists of relevant glossaries; • several types of normalization of temporal trajectories of word raw frequencies • a properly customized clustering of word life-cycles, with a graphical extensive investigation of the best candidates for cluster number, to unveil the important dynamics and decipher the history of a scientific field. Method name: Chronological corpora curve clustering, Keywords: Diachronic corpora, Functional data analysis, Normalization, Cluster number selection