Comment on ‘Properties of highly clustered networks

We consider a procedure for generating clustered networks previ-ously reported by Newman (M.E.J. Newman, Phys. Rev. E 68, 026121 (2003)). In the same study, clustered networks generated according to the proposed model, have been reported to have a lower epidemic threshold under SIR-type network epidemic dynamics. By rewiring networks generated by this model, such that the degree distribution is conserved, we show that the lower epidemic threshold can be closely reproduced by rewired networks with close to zero clustering. The re-ported lower epidemic threshold, can be explained by different degree distributions observed in the networks corresponding to different levels of clustering. Clustering results in networks with high levels of hetero-geneity in node degree, a higher proportion of nodes with zero connec-tivity, and links concentrated within highly interconnected components of small size. Hence, networks generated by this model differ in both clustering and degree distribution, and the lower epidemic threshold is not explained by clustering alone. PACS number(s): 89.75.Hc, 64.60.Ak, 87.19.Xx, 87.23.Ge