A Link Prediction Algorithm Based on Weighted Local and Global Closeness

Link prediction aims to identify unknown or missing connections in a network. The methods based on network structure similarity, known for their simplicity and effectiveness, have garnered widespread attention. A core metric in these methods is “proximity”, which measures the similarity or linking probability between two nodes. These methods generally operate under the assumption that node pairs with higher proximity are more likely to form new connections. However, the accuracy of existing node proximity-based link prediction algorithms requires improvement. To address this, this paper introduces a Link Prediction Algorithm Based on Weighted Local and Global Closeness (LGC). This algorithm integrates the clustering coefficient to enhance prediction accuracy. A significant advantage of LGC is its dual consideration of a network’s local and global features, allowing for a more precise assessment of node similarity. In experiments conducted on ten real-world datasets, the proposed LGC algorithm outperformed eight traditional link prediction methods, showing notable improvements in key evaluation metrics, namely precision and AUC.