Ranking spreaders by decomposing complex networks

Ranking the nodesʼ ability of spreading in networks is crucial for designing efficient strategies to hinder spreading in the case of diseases or accelerate spreading in the case of information dissemination. In the well-known k-shell method, nodes are ranked only according to the links between the remaining nodes (residual links) while the links connecting to the removed nodes (exhausted links) are entirely ignored. In this Letter, we propose a mixed degree decomposition (MDD) procedure in which both the residual degree and the exhausted degree are considered. By simulating the epidemic spreading process on real networks, we show that the MDD method can outperform the k-shell and degree methods in ranking spreaders.

► The exhausted degree is ignored in the well-known k-shell method. ► We propose a network decomposition method considering also the exhausted degree. ► The new method gives a smooth yet non-trivial transition from degree to k-shell. ► The new method can achieve a higher ranking accuracy for nodesʼ spreading ability. ► 15 real networks are tested and the performance of the new method is very robust.