Use of social network analysis tools to validate a resources infrastructure for interinstitutional translational research: a case study.

Question: How can knowledge management and innovative technology, cornerstones of library practice, be leveraged to validate the progress of Clinical and Translational Science Awards? Setting: The Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (Indiana CTSI) promotes interdisciplinary research across academic institutions. Methods: Using social networking tools and knowledge management skills enabled the department of knowledge informatics and translation to create a visualization of utilization of resources across different Indiana CTSI programs and coauthorship and citation patterns. Results: Contacts with different resources per investigator increased; every targeted program was shown to be linked to another. Analysis of publications established a baseline to further analyze the scientific contribution of Indiana CTSI projects. Conclusion: Knowledge management and social networking utilities validated the efficacy of the Indiana CTSI resources infrastructure and demonstrated visualization of collaboration. The bibliometric analysis of publications provides a basis for assessing longer-term contributions of support to scientific discovery and transdisciplinary science.