Identifying Influential Nodes in Complex Networks via Transformer with Multi-Scale Feature Fusion

In complex networks, the identification of critical nodes is vital for optimizing information dissemination. Given the significant role of these nodes in network structures, researchers have proposed various identification methods. In recent years, deep learning has emerged as a promising approach f...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tingshuai Jiang, Yirun Ruan, Tianyuan Yu, Liang Bai, Yifei Yuan
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-05-01
Series:Big Data and Cognitive Computing
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2504-2289/9/5/129
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:In complex networks, the identification of critical nodes is vital for optimizing information dissemination. Given the significant role of these nodes in network structures, researchers have proposed various identification methods. In recent years, deep learning has emerged as a promising approach for identifying key nodes in networks. However, existing algorithms fail to effectively integrate local and global structural information, leading to incomplete and limited network understanding. To overcome this limitation, we introduce a transformer framework with multi-scale feature fusion (MSF-Former). In this framework, we construct local and global feature maps for nodes and use them as input. Through the transformer module, node information is effectively aggregated, thereby improving the model’s ability to recognize key nodes. We perform evaluations using six real-world and three synthetic network datasets, comparing our method against multiple baselines using the SIR model to validate its effectiveness. Experimental analysis confirms that MSF-Former achieves consistently high accuracy in the identification of influential nodes across real-world and synthetic networks.
ISSN:2504-2289