‘Network’ is a heavily overloaded term, so that ‘network analysis’ means different things to different people. Specific forms of network analysis are used in the study of diverse structures such as the Internet, interlocking directorates, transportation systems, epidemic spreading, metabolic pathways, the Web graph, electrical circuits, project plans, and so on. There is, however, a broad methodological foundation which is quickly becoming a prerequisite for researchers and practitioners working with network models.

From a computer science perspective, network analysis is applied graph theory. Unlike standard graph theory books, the content of this book is organized according to methods for specific levels of analysis (element, group, network) rather than abstract concepts like paths, matchings, or spanning subgraphs. Its topics therefore range from vertex centrality to graph clustering and the evolution of scale-free networks.

In 15 coherent chapters, this monograph-like tutorial book introduces and surveys the concepts and methods that drive network analysis, and is thus the first book to do so from a methodological perspective independent of specific application areas.

网络 "是一个严重超载的术语，因此，"网络分析 "对不同的人意味着不同的东西。网络分析的具体形式被用于研究不同的结构，如互联网、互锁的局、运输系统、流行病的传播、代谢途径、网络图、电路、项目计划等等。然而，有一个广泛的方法论基础，它正迅速成为研究人员和从业人员使用网络模型的先决条件。

从计算机科学的角度来看，网络分析是应用图论。与标准的图论书籍不同，本书的内容是按照具体分析层次（元素、组、网络）的方法来组织的，而不是像路径、匹配或跨越子图这样的抽象概念。因此，它的主题包括从顶点中心性到图聚类和无标度网络的演变。

在15个连贯的章节中，这本类似于专著的教程书介绍和调查了驱动网络分析的概念和方法，因此是第一本从独立于具体应用领域的方法学角度来介绍的书。