Temporal Network Analysis

Temporal network analysis, formalised by Holme and Saramäki in their landmark 2012 Physics Reports survey, is the study of networks in which edges appear and disappear over time. Rather than collapsing all contacts into a single static graph, the approach preserves the precise timing of interactions — whether as contact sequences, time-stamped event lists, or windowed snapshots — and uses that timing to track how influence, disease, or information can actually propagate through the system.