# A Clarified Typology of Core-Periphery Structure in Networks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2005.10191 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2005.10191/

## Key facts

- Cited by 7 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 20 May 2020.

## Built on by (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Core-Periphery Principle Guided Redesign of Self-Attention in Transformers](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.15569/) (2023)
- [Towards Operational Validation of LLM-Agent Social Simulations: A Replicated Study of a Reddit-like Technology Forum](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.21740/) (2025)
- [The Afterlives of Shakespeare and Company in Online Social Readership](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2401.07340/) (2024)
- [Generative models for two-ground-truth partitions in networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.02787/) (2023)
- [Uncovering the hidden core-periphery structure in hyperbolic networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2406.19953/) (2024)
- [Scalable inference of spatial regions and temporal signatures from time series](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.05008/) (2026)
- [Fairness in Link Prediction Beyond Demographic Parity: A Reproducibility Study](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.09899/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Core-periphery structure, the arrangement of a network into a dense core and sparse periphery, is a versatile descriptor of various social, biological, and technological networks. In practice, different core-periphery algorithms are often applied interchangeably, despite the fact that they can yield inconsistent descriptions of core-periphery structure. For example, two of the most widely used algorithms, the k-cores decomposition and the classic two-block model of Borgatti and Everett, extract fundamentally different structures: the latter partitions a network into a binary hub-and-spoke layout, while the former divides it into a layered hierarchy. We introduce a core-periphery typology to clarify these differences, along with Bayesian stochastic block modeling techniques to classify networks in accordance with this typology. Empirically, we find a rich diversity of core-periphery structure among networks. Through a detailed case study, we demonstrate the importance of acknowledging this diversity and situating networks within the core-periphery typology when conducting domain-specific analyses.