Scope, Strategy and Structure: The Dynamics ofKnowledge Networks in Medicine

AbstractThe objective of this paper is to analyse the dynamics of networks in which new knowledgeemerges and through which it is exchanged. Our conjecture is that the structure of a networkcannot be divorced from the dynamics of the knowledge underpinning its activities. In so doing welook beyond studies based on the assumption of exogenous networks and delve into themechanisms that stimulate their creation and transformation. In the first part the paper adopts afunctional perspective and views networks as constructs aimed at the coordination of knowledge;accordingly, network structure is an emerging property that reflects the employment of an agreedstrategy to achieve a collective scope. In the second part these themes are articulated in relationto the dynamics of medical innovation and enriched by an empirical study on the long-termevolution of medical research in Ophthalmology....