Network Backbone Extraction Models and Empirical Results from the 108th U.S. Senate

Zachary P. Neal's paper introduces the R backbone package for extracting sparse network backbones from weighted or dense networks. The work includes a complete empirical case study using bill sponsorship data from the 108th U.S. Senate. The dataset was last updated on May 15, 2026.

Use Cases

• Extracting sparse network backbones based on different models of edge importance.
• Simplifying analysis and visualization of dense or weighted networks.
• Applying backbone extraction techniques to empirical social network data, such as legislative bill sponsorship.

Strengths

• Includes a complete empirical case study using data from the 108th U.S. Senate.
• The associated paper provides a detailed overview of the package's workflow and structure.
• Dataset is licensed under CC-BY-4.0 for open use.

Limitations

• The dataset is very small at 5.5 KB, indicating limited scope.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Zachary P. Neal via figshare.

Collection Method

Likely contains model outputs and empirical results from the R backbone package.

Time Range

Empirical case study covers the 108th U.S. Senate (2003-2005).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-15 17:53:49; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United States.