Abstract: A method for assigning relative quality scores to a collection of linked documents is presented. The method includes constructing a spring network according to a connectivity graph of a linked database and determining the strength of inter-nodal springs based on the link structure of the network and the displacements on end-nodes. The method may further include computing the displacements of the nodes in a spring network through an iterative process and obtaining the quality scores for documents from the converged displacements of nodes. The method may also include obtaining the relative quality scores for groups of documents. The method may further include assigning topic-specific quality scores to documents in a linked database.

Abstract: Exemplary methods for assigning relative rank values to a plurality of linked documents are provided. In one embodiment, the method comprises constructing or modeling a nodal network according to a connectivity graph of a linked database and determining conductance of inter-nodal links based on a link structure of the nodal network and rank values of end-nodes. The method may further comprise computing rank values of nodes in the nodal network through an iterative process, and obtaining quality scores for documents from the rank values of the nodes. The method may also include obtaining the quality scores for groups of documents.