ArticlePloS one2026
Backbone 3.0: An R package for extracting network backbones.
Article in PloS one, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
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Abstract
The backbone package for R implements models for extracting the backbone - a sparse unweighted network containing only the most 'important' edges - from a weighted or unweighted network, where different models adopt different perspectives on what makes an edge important. The use of network backbones simplifies analysis and visualization when the original network is weighted or dense. This paper introduces and demonstrates the use of the backbone package for R to extract network backbones. After providing an overview of backbone's workflow and structure, I describe several backbone extraction models, illustrating backbone extraction in a series of toy examples. I then present a complete empirical case study using bill sponsorship data from the 108th U.S. Senate. I conclude with some recommendations for backbone extraction, and an agenda for planned extensions to backbone.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.