Figure 5

Ranking of minority groups in the top d% degree rank for four empirical networks. (A) Sexual contact network (minority = sex workers). (B) Online dating network PussOKram (POK). (C) Scientific collaboration network (minority = women). (D) Scientific citation network (minority = Classical Statistical mechanics (CSM)). The solid orange line is measured on the empirical network and the dashed orange line is the predicted trend, computed using synthetic networks with similar homophily parameters, for 5,000 nodes and averaged over 100 simulations. The dashed gray line is the relative size of the minority, and thus the expected fraction of minority nodes. In the heterophilic cases (A,B), the minority is over-represented with respect to its size. In the collaboration network where homophily is moderate (C), the minority is underrepresented but close to its relative size. In the case of the citation network which is extremely homophilic (D), the minority is highly underrepresented. These results provide empirical evidence for a ranking bias in empirical networks.