diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index 3d093756..dddf0ac9 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -6,12 +6,13 @@
 
 ### Added
 
-- Add commit-interaction data and add functions `read.commit.interactions` for reading, as well as `get.commit.interactions`, `set.commit.interactions` and utility functions for working with commit-interaction data (PR #252, d82857fbebd1111bb16588a4223bb24a8dcd07de, b4fd2a29c9b5fd561b1106c6febb54a32b0085ab, fd0aa05f824b93545ae8e05833b95b3bd9809286, bca35760eb0aac86c04923f2d534b2d8cece204e) as well as tests for these features (PR #252, eeba7e29932bc973513c963fb9e716e9230d570f, 8bb39f4df39b49dfaff8f19feb6db5e5fbd81fac, 54b6f655248720436af116fe72521f9cb0348429, 7a5497aaf9114017d1b3b9b68b6cccd7ca8ac114, 7b8585f87675795822c07230192d6454de31dcc7, ef725407bf8818c8fff96ea6f343338b7162cbe0)
+- Add commit-interaction data and add functions `read.commit.interactions` for reading, as well as `get.commit.interactions`, `set.commit.interactions` and utility functions for working with commit-interaction data (PR #252, d82857fbebd1111bb16588a4223bb24a8dcd07de, b4fd2a29c9b5fd561b1106c6febb54a32b0085ab, fd0aa05f824b93545ae8e05833b95b3bd9809286, bca35760eb0aac86c04923f2d534b2d8cece204e, PR #263, 849123a8b7d898fbb1343745ecffc1f6000c9367, 3fb7437b68950303916b62984fa449732c70353e, 170bc66eb779d7cf2ab504db7c3f4ec483103838) as well as tests for these features (PR #252, eeba7e29932bc973513c963fb9e716e9230d570f, 8bb39f4df39b49dfaff8f19feb6db5e5fbd81fac, 54b6f655248720436af116fe72521f9cb0348429, 7a5497aaf9114017d1b3b9b68b6cccd7ca8ac114, 7b8585f87675795822c07230192d6454de31dcc7, ef725407bf8818c8fff96ea6f343338b7162cbe0,)
 - Add commit-interaction networks that can be created with `create.author.network` and `create.artifact.network` if the `artifact.relation` and `author.relation` is configured to be `commit.interaction` (PR #252, d82857fbebd1111bb16588a4223bb24a8dcd07de, 329d97ec3de36a9e1bcadc0c7a53c1d92e8b481c) as well as tests for these features (PR #252, 07e7ed744209b0251217fa8f7f35d9b9875face2, 7068cfa10d993dcae3f5e3f76f8cafa99fa8b350)
 - Add helper function for prefixing function names with file names in `util-read.R` (PR #252, f8ea987b138173cf0509c7910e0572d8ee1b3f1f)
 - Add line-based code coverage reports into CI pipeline. Coverage reports are generated by `coverage.R` (PR #262, 10cac49d005e87c3964cc61711e7f5acef749626, b3b9f4ac7a9911bd00293c68fac88e0f9033bdfb, c815d18dc6266d620a7a145493417b87ac08679e, e8093525fdaf46e54f2f7fcc6358ca7892e795e5, 32d04823e2007c63d2a43ce59bea3057327c19a7)
 - Add the possibility to split data time-based by multiple data sources (PR #261, 1088395f46b84028c8d7c463ca86b5dc38500c26, e1f79fc9e40cd6f41c946be42db364b2101cfe10, 0bb187fec0fd801d7634bf8d5180525770f6ab0b, 371a97ac6ebf3de4fe9360dea79d62e2ed3ef585)
 - Add tests for uncovered functionality in `util-misc.R` and `util-networks.R` (PR #264, ff30f3238b1bf2539280d0d055a5d925c197c271, af80551d0615a49b86e45ff596bd75941ee88f91)
+- Add commit network as a new type of network. It uses commits as vertices and connects them either via cochange or commit interactions. This includes adding new config parameters and the function `add.vertex.attribute.commit.network` for adding vertex attributes to a commit network (PR #263, ab73271781e8e9a0715f784936df4b371d64c338, ab73271781e8e9a0715f784936df4b371d64c338, cd9a930fcb54ff465c2a5a7c43cfe82ac15c134d)
 
 ### Changed/Improved
 
@@ -19,6 +20,7 @@
 - Replace deprecated `igraph` functions by their preferred alternatives (PR #264, 0df9d5bf6bafbb5d440f4c47db4ec901cf11f037)
 - Deprecate support for R version 3.6 (PR #264, c8e6f45111e487fadbe7f0a13c7595eb23f3af6e, fb3f5474259d4a88f4ff545691cca9d1ccde90e3)
 - Explicitly add R version 4.4 to the CI test pipeline (c8e6f45111e487fadbe7f0a13c7595eb23f3af6e)
+- Refactor function `construct.edge.list.from.key.value.list` to be more readable (PR #263, 05c3bc09cb1d396fd59c34a88030cdca58fd04dd)
 
 ### Fixed
 
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 86b2671c..dc2cba45 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -234,6 +234,11 @@ There are four types of networks that can be built using this library: author ne
      * The vertices in an artifact network denote any kind of artifact, e.g., source-code artifact (such as features or files) or communication artifact (such as mail threads or issues). All artifact-type vertices are uniquely identifiable by their name. There are only unipartite edges among artifacts in this type of network.
      * The relations (i.e., the edges' meaning and source) can be configured using the [`NetworkConf`](#networkconf) attribute `artifact.relation`. The relation also describes which kinds of artifacts are represented as vertices in the network. (For example, if "mail" is selected as `artifact.relation`, only mail-thread vertices are included in the network.)
 
+- Commit networks
+     * The vertices in a commit network denote any commits in the data. All vertices
+     are uniquely identifyable by the hash of the commit. There are only unipartite edges among commits in this type of network.
+     * The relations (i.e., the edges' meaning and source) can be configured using the [`networkConf`](#networkconf) attribute `commit.relation`. The relation also describes the type of data used for network construction (`cochange` uses commit data, `commit.interaction` uses commit interaction data).
+
 - Bipartite networks
      * The vertices in a bipartite network denote both authors and artifacts. There are only bipartite edges from authors to artifacts in this type of network.
      * The relations (i.e., the edges' meaning and source) can be configured using the [`NetworkConf`](#networkconf) attribute `artifact.relation`.
@@ -249,6 +254,7 @@ Relations determine which information is used to construct edges among the verti
 - `cochange`
     * For author networks (configured via `author.relation` in the [`NetworkConf`](#networkconf)), authors who change the same source-code artifact are connected with an edge.
     * For artifact networks (configured via `artifact.relation` in the [`NetworkConf`](#networkconf)), source-code artifacts that are concurrently changed in the same commit are connected with an edge.
+    * For commit networks (configured vie `commit.relation` in the [`NetworkConf`](#networkconf)), commits are connected if they change the same artifact.
     * For bipartite networks (configured via `artifact.relation` in the [`NetworkConf`](#networkconf)), authors get linked to all source-code artifacts they have changed in their respective commits.
 
 - `mail`
@@ -269,6 +275,7 @@ Relations determine which information is used to construct edges among the verti
 - `commit.interaction`
     * For author networks (configured via `author.relation` in the [`NetworkConf`](#networkconf)), authors who contribute to interacting commits are connected with an edge.
     * For artifact networks (configured via `artifact.relation` in the [`NetworkConf`](#networkconf)), artifacts are connected when there is an interaction between two commits that occur in the artifacts.
+    * For commit networks (configured via `commit.relation` in the [`NetworkConf`](#networkconf)), commits are connected when they interact in the commit-interaction data.
     * This relation does not apply for bipartite networks.
 
 #### Edge-construction algorithms for author networks
@@ -623,7 +630,7 @@ Updates to the parameters can be done by calling `NetworkConf$update.variables(.
 - `author.relation`
     * The relation(s) among authors, encoded as edges in an author network
     * **Note**: The  author--artifact relation in bipartite and multi networks is configured by `artifact.relation`!
-    * possible values: [*`"mail"`*, `"cochange"`, `"issue"`]
+    * possible values: [*`"mail"`*, `"cochange"`, `"issue"`, `"commit.interaction"`]
 - `author.directed`
     * The directedness of edges in an author network
     * [`TRUE`, *`FALSE`*]
@@ -642,11 +649,17 @@ Updates to the parameters can be done by calling `NetworkConf$update.variables(.
 - `artifact.relation`
     * The relation(s) among artifacts, encoded as edges in an artifact network
     * **Note**: Additionally, this relation configures also the author--artifact relation in bipartite and multi networks!
-    * possible values: [*`"cochange"`*, `"callgraph"`, `"mail"`, `"issue"`]
+    * possible values: [*`"cochange"`*, `"callgraph"`, `"mail"`, `"issue"`, `"commit.interaction"`]
 - `artifact.directed`
     * The directedness of edges in an artifact network
     * **Note**: This parameter does only affect the `issue` relation, as the `cochange` relation is always undirected, while the `callgraph` relation is always directed. For the `mail`, we currently do not have data available to exhibit edge information.
   * [`TRUE`, *`FALSE`*]
+- `commit.relation`
+    * The relation(s) among commits, encoded as edges in a commit network
+    * possible values: [*`"cochange"`*, `"commit.interaction"`]
+- `commit.directed`
+    * The directedness of edges in a commit network
+    * [`TRUE`, *`FALSE`*]
 - `edge.attributes`
     * The list of edge-attribute names and information
     * a subset of the following as a single vector:
diff --git a/showcase.R b/showcase.R
index 74da2497..4cb95d4a 100644
--- a/showcase.R
+++ b/showcase.R
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 ## Copyright 2021 by Niklas Schneider <s8nlschn@stud.uni-saarland.de>
 ## Copyright 2022 by Jonathan Baumann <joba00002@stud.uni-saarland.de>
 ## Copyright 2024 by Maximilian Löffler <s8maloef@stud.uni-saarland.de>
+## Copyright 2024 by Leo Sendelbach <s8lesend@stud.uni-saarland.de>
 ## All Rights Reserved.
 
 
@@ -65,6 +66,7 @@ ARTIFACT = "feature" # function, feature, file, featureexpression (only relevant
 
 AUTHOR.RELATION = "mail" # mail, cochange, issue
 ARTIFACT.RELATION = "cochange" # cochange, callgraph, mail, issue
+COMMIT.RELATION = "commit.interaction" # commit.interaction, cochange
 
 
 ## / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
@@ -73,13 +75,16 @@ ARTIFACT.RELATION = "cochange" # cochange, callgraph, mail, issue
 ## initialize project configuration
 proj.conf = ProjectConf$new(CF.DATA, CF.SELECTION.PROCESS, CASESTUDY, ARTIFACT)
 proj.conf$update.value("commits.filter.base.artifact", TRUE)
+proj.conf$update.value("commit.interactions", TRUE)
 ## specify that custom event timestamps should be read from 'custom-events.list'
 proj.conf$update.value("custom.event.timestamps.file", "custom-events.list")
 proj.conf$print()
 
 ## initialize network configuration
 net.conf = NetworkConf$new()
-net.conf$update.values(updated.values = list(author.relation = AUTHOR.RELATION, artifact.relation = ARTIFACT.RELATION))
+net.conf$update.values(updated.values = list(author.relation = AUTHOR.RELATION,
+                                             artifact.relation = ARTIFACT.RELATION,
+                                             commit.relation = COMMIT.RELATION))
 net.conf$print()
 
 ## get ranges
@@ -141,6 +146,7 @@ x$get.author.network()
 x$update.network.conf(updated.values = list(author.directed = FALSE))
 x$get.author.network()
 x$get.artifact.network()
+x$get.commit.network()
 x$reset.environment()
 x$get.networks()
 x$update.network.conf(updated.values = list(author.only.committers = FALSE, author.directed = FALSE))
@@ -201,6 +207,7 @@ y$update.network.conf(updated.values = list(edge.attributes = c("date")))
 y$get.author.network()
 y$update.network.conf(updated.values = list(edge.attributes = c("hash")))
 y$get.artifact.network()
+y$get.commit.network()
 y$get.networks()
 y$update.network.conf(updated.values = list(author.only.committers = FALSE, author.directed = TRUE))
 h = y$get.bipartite.network()
@@ -232,6 +239,8 @@ sample.pull.requests = add.vertex.attribute.author.issue.count(my.networks, x.da
 ## add vertex attributes for the project-level network
 x.net.as.list = list("1970-01-01 00:00:00-2030-01-01 00:00:00" = x$get.author.network())
 sample.entire = add.vertex.attribute.author.commit.count(x.net.as.list, x.data, aggregation.level = "complete")
+## add vertex attributes to commit network. Default value 'NO_AUTHOR' is used if vertex is not in commit data
+add.vertex.attribute.commit.network(x$get.commit.network(), x.data, attr.name = "author.name", default.value = "NO_AUTHOR")
 
 
 ## / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
diff --git a/tests/test-data.R b/tests/test-data.R
index 88ce0e42..c983946d 100644
--- a/tests/test-data.R
+++ b/tests/test-data.R
@@ -564,15 +564,15 @@ test_that("Compare two ProjectData Objects with commit.interactions", {
     proj.data.two$set.commits(create.empty.commits.list())
 
     ## create empty data frame of correct size
-    commit.interactions.data.expected = data.frame(matrix(nrow = 4, ncol = 8))
+    commit.interactions.data.expected = data.frame(matrix(nrow = 4, ncol = 9))
     ## assure that the correct type is used
-    for(i in seq_len(8)) {
+    for(i in seq_len(9)) {
         commit.interactions.data.expected[[i]] = as.character(commit.interactions.data.expected[[i]])
     }
     ## set everything except for authors as expected
     colnames(commit.interactions.data.expected) = c("commit.hash", "base.hash", "func", "file",
-                                                    "base.func", "base.file", "base.author",
-                                                    "interacting.author")
+                                                    "base.func", "base.file","artifact.type",
+                                                    "base.author", "interacting.author")
     commit.interactions.data.expected[["commit.hash"]] =
                                                         c("0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526",
                                                         "418d1dc4929ad1df251d2aeb833dd45757b04a6f",
@@ -588,6 +588,8 @@ test_that("Compare two ProjectData Objects with commit.interactions", {
     commit.interactions.data.expected[["base.func"]] = c("test2.c::test2", "test2.c::test2",
                                                          "test3.c::test_function", "test2.c::test2")
     commit.interactions.data.expected[["base.file"]] = c("test2.c", "test2.c", "test3.c", "test2.c")
+    commit.interactions.data.expected[["artifact.type"]] = c("CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction",
+                                                             "CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction")
 
     expect_equal(proj.data.two$get.commit.interactions(), commit.interactions.data.expected)
 
diff --git a/tests/test-networks-artifact.R b/tests/test-networks-artifact.R
index 432840fc..1d847b54 100644
--- a/tests/test-networks-artifact.R
+++ b/tests/test-networks-artifact.R
@@ -252,6 +252,7 @@ patrick::with_parameters_test_that("Network construction with commit-interaction
                       "test3.c::test_function", "test2.c::test2"),
         base.author = c("Olaf", "Thomas", "Karl", "Thomas"),
         interacting.author = c("Thomas", "Karl", "Olaf", "Thomas"),
+        artifact.type = c("File", "File", "File", "File"),
         weight = c(1, 1, 1, 1),
         type = c(TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA),
         relation = c("commit.interaction", "commit.interaction", "commit.interaction", "commit.interaction")
@@ -301,6 +302,7 @@ patrick::with_parameters_test_that("Network construction with commit-interaction
         base.file = c("test2.c", "test2.c", "test3.c", "test2.c"),
         base.author = c("Olaf", "Thomas", "Karl", "Thomas"),
         interacting.author = c("Thomas", "Karl", "Olaf", "Thomas"),
+        artifact.type = c("Function", "Function", "Function", "Function"),
         weight = c(1, 1, 1, 1),
         type = c(TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA),
         relation = c("commit.interaction", "commit.interaction", "commit.interaction", "commit.interaction")
diff --git a/tests/test-networks-author.R b/tests/test-networks-author.R
index 2910ba51..d343a0c5 100644
--- a/tests/test-networks-author.R
+++ b/tests/test-networks-author.R
@@ -720,6 +720,7 @@ patrick::with_parameters_test_that("Network construction with commit-interaction
         base.func = c("test2.c::test2", "test2.c::test2",
                       "test3.c::test_function", "test2.c::test2"),
         base.file = c("test2.c", "test2.c", "test3.c", "test2.c"),
+        artifact.type = c("CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction"),
         weight = c(1, 1, 1, 1),
         type = c(TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA),
         relation = c("commit.interaction", "commit.interaction", "commit.interaction", "commit.interaction")
diff --git a/tests/test-networks-commit.R b/tests/test-networks-commit.R
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..7de34eed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test-networks-commit.R
@@ -0,0 +1,338 @@
+## This file is part of coronet, which is free software: you
+## can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General
+## Public License as published by  the Free Software Foundation, version 2.
+##
+## This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+## but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+## MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+## GNU General Public License for more details.
+##
+## You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along
+## with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc.,
+## 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
+##
+## Copyright 2024 by Leo Sendelbach <s8lesend@stud.uni-saarland.de>
+
+## All Rights Reserved.
+
+
+context("Network-building functionality.")
+
+##
+## Context
+##
+
+CF.DATA = file.path(".", "codeface-data")
+CF.SELECTION.PROCESS = "testing"
+CASESTUDY = "test"
+
+## use only when debugging this file independently
+if (!dir.exists(CF.DATA)) CF.DATA = file.path(".", "tests", "codeface-data")
+
+
+##
+## Tests for author.all.authors and author.only.committers
+##
+
+
+
+patrick::with_parameters_test_that("Network construction with commit-interactions as relation", {
+    ## configuration object for the datapath
+    proj.conf = ProjectConf$new(CF.DATA, CF.SELECTION.PROCESS, CASESTUDY, "file")
+    proj.conf$update.value("commit.interactions", TRUE)
+    proj.conf$update.value("commit.interactions.filter.global", FALSE)
+    proj.data = ProjectData$new(project.conf = proj.conf)
+
+    net.conf = NetworkConf$new()
+    net.conf$update.values(updated.values = list(commit.relation = "commit.interaction",
+                                                 commit.directed = test.directed))
+
+    network.builder = NetworkBuilder$new(project.data = proj.data, network.conf = net.conf)
+    network.built = network.builder$get.commit.network()
+    ## build the expected network
+    vertices = data.frame(
+        name = c("3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                 "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526",
+                 "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61",
+                 "418d1dc4929ad1df251d2aeb833dd45757b04a6f",
+                 "5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338",
+                 "d01921773fae4bed8186b0aa411d6a2f7a6626e6"),
+        kind = TYPE.COMMIT,
+        type = TYPE.COMMIT
+        )
+    edges = data.frame(
+        base.hash = c("3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                      "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526",
+                      "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61",
+                      "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526"),
+        hash = c("0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526",
+                 "418d1dc4929ad1df251d2aeb833dd45757b04a6f",
+                 "5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338",
+                 "d01921773fae4bed8186b0aa411d6a2f7a6626e6"),
+        func = c("GLOBAL", "test2.c::test2", "GLOBAL", "test2.c::test2"),
+        interacting.author = c("Thomas", "Karl", "Olaf", "Thomas"),
+        file = c("GLOBAL", "test2.c", "GLOBAL", "test2.c"),
+        base.author = c("Olaf", "Thomas", "Karl", "Thomas"),
+        base.func = c("test2.c::test2", "test2.c::test2",
+                      "test3.c::test_function", "test2.c::test2"),
+        base.file = c("test2.c", "test2.c", "test3.c", "test2.c"),
+        artifact.type = c("CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction"),
+        weight = c(1, 1, 1, 1),
+        type = c(TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA),
+        relation = c("commit.interaction", "commit.interaction", "commit.interaction", "commit.interaction")
+        )
+    network = igraph::graph.data.frame(edges, directed = test.directed, vertices = vertices)
+    expect_true(igraph::identical_graphs(network.built, network))
+
+    network.new.attr = add.vertex.attribute.commit.network(network.built, proj.data,  "deleted.lines", "NO_DATA")
+    expect_identical(igraph::V(network.new.attr)$deleted.lines, c("0", "0","0", "NO_DATA", "0", "NO_DATA"))
+}, patrick::cases(
+    "directed: FALSE" = list(test.directed = FALSE),
+    "directed: TRUE" = list(test.directed = TRUE)
+))
+
+patrick::with_parameters_test_that("Network construction with cochange as relation, file as artifact", {
+    ## configuration object for the datapath
+    proj.conf = ProjectConf$new(CF.DATA, CF.SELECTION.PROCESS, CASESTUDY, "file")
+    proj.data = ProjectData$new(project.conf = proj.conf)
+
+    net.conf = NetworkConf$new()
+    net.conf$update.values(updated.values = list(commit.relation = "cochange",
+                                                 commit.directed = test.directed))
+
+    network.builder = NetworkBuilder$new(project.data = proj.data, network.conf = net.conf)
+    network.built = network.builder$get.commit.network()
+    ## build the expected network
+    vertices = data.frame(
+        name = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0",
+                 "5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338",
+                 "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                 "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526",
+                 "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 15:58:59",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:00:45",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:05:41",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:32",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:10")),
+        kind = TYPE.COMMIT,
+        type = TYPE.COMMIT
+        )
+    edges = data.frame(
+        from = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0", "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774"),
+        to = c("5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338", "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 16:00:45", "2016-07-12 16:06:32")),
+        artifact.type = c("File", "File"),
+        artifact = c("test.c", "test2.c"),
+        weight = c(1, 1),
+        type = c(TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA),
+        relation = c("cochange", "cochange")
+        )
+
+    if (test.directed) {
+        edges <- edges[, c(2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), ]
+    }
+    network = igraph::graph.data.frame(edges, directed = test.directed, vertices = vertices)
+
+    expect_true(igraph::identical_graphs(network.built, network))
+}, patrick::cases(
+    "directed: FALSE" = list(test.directed = FALSE),
+    "directed: TRUE" = list(test.directed = TRUE)
+))
+
+patrick::with_parameters_test_that("Network construction with cochange as relation, function as artifact", {
+    ## configuration object for the datapath
+    proj.conf = ProjectConf$new(CF.DATA, CF.SELECTION.PROCESS, CASESTUDY, "function")
+    proj.conf$update.value("commits.filter.base.artifact", FALSE)
+    proj.data = ProjectData$new(project.conf = proj.conf)
+
+    net.conf = NetworkConf$new()
+    net.conf$update.values(updated.values = list(commit.relation = "cochange",
+                                                 commit.directed = test.directed))
+
+    network.builder = NetworkBuilder$new(project.data = proj.data, network.conf = net.conf)
+    network.built = network.builder$get.commit.network()
+    ## build the expected network
+    vertices = data.frame(
+        name = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0",
+                 "5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338",
+                 "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                 "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526",
+                 "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 15:58:59",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:00:45",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:05:41",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:32",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:10")),
+        kind = TYPE.COMMIT,
+        type = TYPE.COMMIT
+        )
+    edges = data.frame(
+        from = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0", "72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0",
+                 "5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338", "72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0",
+                 "5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338", "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774"),
+        to = c("5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338", "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+               "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774", "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526",
+               "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526", "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 16:00:45", "2016-07-12 16:05:41", "2016-07-12 16:05:41",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:32", "2016-07-12 16:06:32", "2016-07-12 16:06:32")),
+        artifact.type = c("Function", "Function", "Function", "Function", "Function", "Function"),
+        artifact = c("File_Level", "File_Level", "File_Level", "File_Level", "File_Level", "File_Level"),
+        weight = c(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1),
+        type = c(TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA,
+                 TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA),
+        relation = c("cochange", "cochange", "cochange", "cochange", "cochange", "cochange")
+        )
+
+    if (test.directed) {
+        edges <- edges[, c(2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), ]
+    }
+    network = igraph::graph.data.frame(edges, directed = test.directed, vertices = vertices)
+
+    expect_true(igraph::identical_graphs(network.built, network))
+}, patrick::cases(
+    "directed: FALSE" = list(test.directed = FALSE),
+    "directed: TRUE" = list(test.directed = TRUE)
+))
+
+patrick::with_parameters_test_that("Network construction with cochange as relation, feature as artifact", {
+    ## configuration object for the datapath
+    proj.conf = ProjectConf$new(CF.DATA, CF.SELECTION.PROCESS, CASESTUDY, "feature")
+    proj.conf$update.value("commits.filter.base.artifact", FALSE)
+    proj.data = ProjectData$new(project.conf = proj.conf)
+
+    net.conf = NetworkConf$new()
+    net.conf$update.values(updated.values = list(commit.relation = "cochange",
+                                                 commit.directed = test.directed))
+
+    network.builder = NetworkBuilder$new(project.data = proj.data, network.conf = net.conf)
+    network.built = network.builder$get.commit.network()
+    ## build the expected network
+    vertices = data.frame(
+        name = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0",
+                 "5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338",
+                 "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                 "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61",
+                 "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 15:58:59",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:00:45",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:05:41",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:10",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:32")),
+        kind = TYPE.COMMIT,
+        type = TYPE.COMMIT
+        )
+    edges = data.frame(
+        from = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0", "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                 "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774", "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61"),
+        to = c("5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338", "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61",
+               "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526", "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 16:00:45", "2016-07-12 16:06:10", "2016-07-12 16:06:32", "2016-07-12 16:06:32")),
+        artifact.type = c("Feature", "Feature", "Feature", "Feature"),
+        artifact = c("A", "Base_Feature", "Base_Feature", "Base_Feature"),
+        weight = c(1, 1, 1, 1),
+        type = c(TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA),
+        relation = c("cochange", "cochange", "cochange", "cochange")
+        )
+
+    if (test.directed) {
+        edges <- edges[, c(2, 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), ]
+    }
+    network = igraph::graph.data.frame(edges, directed = test.directed, vertices = vertices)
+
+    expect_true(igraph::identical_graphs(network.built, network))
+}, patrick::cases(
+    "directed: FALSE" = list(test.directed = FALSE),
+    "directed: TRUE" = list(test.directed = TRUE)
+))
+
+test_that("Adding vertex attributes to a commit network", {
+    ## configuration object for the datapath
+    proj.conf = ProjectConf$new(CF.DATA, CF.SELECTION.PROCESS, CASESTUDY, "feature")
+    proj.conf$update.value("commits.filter.base.artifact", FALSE)
+    proj.data = ProjectData$new(project.conf = proj.conf)
+
+    net.conf = NetworkConf$new()
+    net.conf$update.values(updated.values = list(commit.relation = "cochange",
+                                                 commit.directed = FALSE))
+
+    network.builder = NetworkBuilder$new(project.data = proj.data, network.conf = net.conf)
+    network.built = network.builder$get.commit.network()
+    network.new.attr = add.vertex.attribute.commit.network(network.built, proj.data,  "author.name", "NO_AUTHOR")
+    ## build the expected network
+    vertices = data.frame(
+        name = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0",
+                 "5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338",
+                 "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                 "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61",
+                 "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 15:58:59",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:00:45",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:05:41",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:10",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:32")),
+        kind = TYPE.COMMIT,
+        type = TYPE.COMMIT,
+        author.name = c("Björn",
+                        "Olaf",
+                        "Olaf",
+                        "Karl",
+                        "Thomas")
+        )
+    edges = data.frame(
+        from = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0", "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                 "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774", "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61"),
+        to = c("5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338", "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61",
+               "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526", "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 16:00:45", "2016-07-12 16:06:10", "2016-07-12 16:06:32", "2016-07-12 16:06:32")),
+        artifact.type = c("Feature", "Feature", "Feature", "Feature"),
+        artifact = c("A", "Base_Feature", "Base_Feature", "Base_Feature"),
+        weight = c(1, 1, 1, 1),
+        type = c(TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA),
+        relation = c("cochange", "cochange", "cochange", "cochange")
+        )
+
+    network = igraph::graph.data.frame(edges, directed = FALSE, vertices = vertices)
+
+    expect_true(igraph::identical_graphs(network.new.attr, network))
+
+    network.new.attr = add.vertex.attribute.commit.network(network.new.attr, proj.data,  "commit.id", "NO_ID")
+
+    ## build the expected network
+    vertices = data.frame(
+        name = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0",
+                 "5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338",
+                 "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                 "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61",
+                 "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 15:58:59",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:00:45",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:05:41",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:10",
+                                      "2016-07-12 16:06:32")),
+        kind = TYPE.COMMIT,
+        type = TYPE.COMMIT,
+        author.name = c("Björn",
+                        "Olaf",
+                        "Olaf",
+                        "Karl",
+                        "Thomas"),
+        commit.id = c("<commit-32712>", "<commit-32713>",
+                      "<commit-32710>", "<commit-32714>", "<commit-32711>")
+        )
+    edges = data.frame(
+        from = c("72c8dd25d3dd6d18f46e2b26a5f5b1e2e8dc28d0", "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774",
+                 "3a0ed78458b3976243db6829f63eba3eead26774", "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61"),
+        to = c("5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338", "1143db502761379c2bfcecc2007fc34282e7ee61",
+               "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526", "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526"),
+        date = get.date.from.string(c("2016-07-12 16:00:45", "2016-07-12 16:06:10", "2016-07-12 16:06:32", "2016-07-12 16:06:32")),
+        artifact.type = c("Feature", "Feature", "Feature", "Feature"),
+        artifact = c("A", "Base_Feature", "Base_Feature", "Base_Feature"),
+        weight = c(1, 1, 1, 1),
+        type = c(TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA, TYPE.EDGES.INTRA),
+        relation = c("cochange", "cochange", "cochange", "cochange")
+        )
+
+    network.two = igraph::graph.data.frame(edges, directed = FALSE, vertices = vertices)
+
+    expect_true(igraph::identical_graphs(network.new.attr, network.two))
+})
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/tests/test-read.R b/tests/test-read.R
index c617e091..f01d16c1 100644
--- a/tests/test-read.R
+++ b/tests/test-read.R
@@ -505,15 +505,15 @@ test_that("Read the commit-interactions data.", {
     commit.interactions.data.read = read.commit.interactions(proj.conf$get.value("datapath"))
     ## build the expected data.frame
 
-    commit.interactions.data.expected = data.frame(matrix(nrow = 4, ncol = 8))
+    commit.interactions.data.expected = data.frame(matrix(nrow = 4, ncol = 9))
     ## assure that the correct type is used
-    for(i in seq_len(8)) {
+    for(i in seq_len(ncol(commit.interactions.data.expected))) {
         commit.interactions.data.expected[[i]] = as.character(commit.interactions.data.expected[[i]])
     }
     ## set everything except for authors as expected
     colnames(commit.interactions.data.expected) = c("func", "commit.hash", "file", "base.hash",
                                                     "base.func", "base.file", "base.author",
-                                                    "interacting.author")
+                                                    "interacting.author", "artifact.type")
     commit.interactions.data.expected[["commit.hash"]] =
                                                         c("5a5ec9675e98187e1e92561e1888aa6f04faa338",
                                                           "0a1a5c523d835459c42f33e863623138555e2526",
@@ -529,6 +529,8 @@ test_that("Read the commit-interactions data.", {
     commit.interactions.data.expected[["base.func"]] = c("test3.c::test_function", "test2.c::test2",
                                                          "test2.c::test2", "test2.c::test2")
     commit.interactions.data.expected[["base.file"]] = c("test3.c", "test2.c", "test2.c", "test2.c")
+    commit.interactions.data.expected[["artifact.type"]] = c("CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction",
+                                                             "CommitInteraction", "CommitInteraction")
     ## check the results
     expect_identical(commit.interactions.data.read, commit.interactions.data.expected,
                      info = "commit interaction data.")
@@ -543,11 +545,11 @@ test_that("Read the empty commit-interactions data.", {
     commit.interactions.data.read = read.commit.interactions("./codeface-data/results/testing/
                                                              test_empty_proximity/proximity")
     ## build the expected data.frame
-    commit.interactions.data.expected = data.frame(matrix(nrow = 0, ncol = 8))
+    commit.interactions.data.expected = data.frame(matrix(nrow = 0, ncol = 9))
     colnames(commit.interactions.data.expected) = c("func", "commit.hash", "file",
                                                     "base.hash", "base.func", "base.file",
-                                                    "base.author", "interacting.author")
-    for(i in seq_len(8)) {
+                                                    "base.author", "interacting.author", "artifact.type")
+    for(i in seq_len(ncol(commit.interactions.data.expected))) {
         commit.interactions.data.expected[[i]] = as.character(commit.interactions.data.expected[[i]])
     }
     ## check the results
diff --git a/util-conf.R b/util-conf.R
index d1b8c0c8..85aec34a 100644
--- a/util-conf.R
+++ b/util-conf.R
@@ -63,6 +63,8 @@ ARTIFACT.CODEFACE = list(
     "file"     = "File"
 )
 
+ARTIFACT.COMMIT.INTERACTION = "CommitInteraction"
+
 
 ## / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
 ## Conf --------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -837,6 +839,18 @@ NetworkConf = R6::R6Class("NetworkConf", inherit = Conf,
                 allowed = c(TRUE, FALSE),
                 allowed.number = 1
             ),
+            commit.relation = list(
+                default = "cochange",
+                type = "character",
+                allowed = c("cochange", "commit.interaction"),
+                allowed.number = Inf
+            ),
+            commit.directed = list(
+                default = FALSE,
+                type = "logical",
+                allowed = c(TRUE, FALSE),
+                allowed.number = 1
+            ),
             edges.for.base.artifacts = list(
                 default = TRUE,
                 type = "logical",
diff --git a/util-data.R b/util-data.R
index 988146a5..90c01ca4 100644
--- a/util-data.R
+++ b/util-data.R
@@ -416,7 +416,12 @@ ProjectData = R6::R6Class("ProjectData",
         #' This method should be called whenever the field \code{commit.interactions} is changed.
         update.commit.interactions = function() {
             if (self$is.data.source.cached("commit.interactions")) {
-                if (!self$is.data.source.cached("commits.unfiltered")) {
+                ## check if caller was 'set.commits'. If so, or if commits are already filtered,
+                ## do not get the commits again.
+                stacktrace = get.stacktrace(sys.calls())
+                caller = get.second.last.element(stacktrace)
+                if (!self$is.data.source.cached("commits.unfiltered") &&
+                    (is.na(caller) || paste(caller, collapse = " ") != "self$set.commits(commit.data)")) {
                     self$get.commits()
                 }
 
@@ -2143,6 +2148,32 @@ ProjectData = R6::R6Class("ProjectData",
             return(mylist)
         },
 
+        #' Group the commits of the given \code{data.source} by the given \code{group.column}.
+        #' For each group, the column \code{"hash"} is duplicated and prepended to each
+        #' group's data as first column (see below for details).
+        #'
+        #' Example: To obtain the commits that changed the same source-code artifact,
+        #' call \code{group.commits.by.data.column("commits", "artifact")}.
+        #'
+        #' @param data.source The specified data source. One of \code{"commits"},
+        #'                    \code{"mails"}, and \code{"issues"}. [default: "commits"]
+        #' @param group.column The column to group the commits of the given \code{data.source} by
+        #'                     [default: "artifact"]
+        #'
+        #' @return a list mapping each distinct item in \code{group.column} to all corresponding
+        #'         data items from \code{data.source}, with the column \code{"hash"} duplicated
+        #'         as first column (with name \code{"data.vertices"})
+        #'
+        #' @seealso ProjectData$group.data.by.column
+        group.commits.by.data.column = function(group.column = "artifact") {
+            logging::loginfo("Grouping commits by data column.")
+
+            ## store the commits per group that is determined by 'group.column'
+            mylist = self$group.data.by.column("commits", group.column, "hash")
+
+            return(mylist)
+        },
+
         #' Group the authors of the given \code{data.source} by the given \code{group.column}.
         #' For each group, the column \code{"author.name"} is duplicated and prepended to each
         #' group's data as first column (see below for details).
diff --git a/util-networks-covariates.R b/util-networks-covariates.R
index 95a3021a..700b5e9f 100644
--- a/util-networks-covariates.R
+++ b/util-networks-covariates.R
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
 ## Copyright 2022 by Niklas Schneider <s8nlschn@stud.uni-saarland.de>
 ## Copyright 2022 by Jonathan Baumann <joba00002@stud.uni-saarland.de>
 ## Copyright 2024 by Maximilian Löffler <s8maloef@stud.uni-saarland.de>
+## Copyright 2024 by Leo Sendelbach <s8lesend@stud.uni-saarland.de>
 ## All Rights Reserved.
 
 ## / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
@@ -140,6 +141,41 @@ add.vertex.attribute = function(net.to.range.list, attr.name, default.value, com
     return(nets.with.attr)
 }
 
+#' Utility function to add a vertex attribute from commit data to a commit network.
+#' Attribute name should be a column name of the commit data dataframe.
+#' Default column names can be seen in 'COMMITS.LIST.COLUMNS' in 'util-read.R',
+#' though more might be possible.
+#'
+#' @param network the commit network
+#' @param project.data the project data from which to extract the values
+#' @param attr.name the name of the attribute
+#' @param default.value the default value that is used if the current hash
+#'                      is not contained in the commit data at all
+#'
+#' @return a network with new vertex attribute
+add.vertex.attribute.commit.network = function(network, project.data,
+                                               attr.name, default.value) {
+    # get the commit data and extract the required data
+    commit.data = project.data$get.commits()
+    hashes = commit.data[["hash"]]
+    attribute = commit.data[[attr.name]]
+    attribute.values = c()
+    for (hash in igraph::V(network)$name) {
+        # for each vertex, find the position in the data frame
+        hash.index = match(hash, hashes, nomatch = NA)
+
+        value = c()
+        # extract the correct value from the data or use the default value
+        if (!is.na(hash.index)) {
+            value = attribute[[hash.index]]
+        } else {
+            value = default.value
+        }
+        attribute.values = c(attribute.values, value)
+    }
+    net.with.attr = igraph::set.vertex.attribute(network, attr.name, value = attribute.values)
+}
+
 
 ## / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / / /
 ## Author network functions ------------------------------------------------
diff --git a/util-networks.R b/util-networks.R
index a9b19e11..da1b1da6 100644
--- a/util-networks.R
+++ b/util-networks.R
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ requireNamespace("lubridate") # for date conversion
 ## vertex types
 TYPE.AUTHOR = "Author"
 TYPE.ARTIFACT = "Artifact"
+TYPE.COMMIT = "Commit"
 
 ## edge types
 TYPE.EDGES.INTRA = "Unipartite"
@@ -122,6 +123,8 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
         artifacts.network.callgraph = NULL, # igraph
         artifacts.network.mail = NULL, # igraph
         artifacts.network.issue = NULL, # igraph
+        commits.network.commit.interaction = NULL, #igraph
+        commits.network.cochange = NULL, #igraph
 
         ## * * relation-to-vertex-kind mapping -----------------------------
 
@@ -245,6 +248,9 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
             colnames(edges)[1] = "to"
             colnames(edges)[2] = "from"
             colnames(edges)[4] = "hash"
+            if (nrow(edges) > 0) {
+                edges[["artifact.type"]] = ARTIFACT.COMMIT.INTERACTION
+            }
             author.net.data = list(vertices = vertices, edges = edges)
             ## construct the network
             author.net = construct.network.from.edge.list(
@@ -352,7 +358,7 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
                 network.conf = private$network.conf,
                 directed = FALSE,
                 respect.temporal.order = TRUE,
-                artifact.edges = TRUE
+                network.type = "artifact"
             )
 
             ## construct network from obtained data
@@ -398,6 +404,9 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
 
               edges = edges[, c("file", "base.file", "func", "commit.hash",
                                 "base.hash", "base.func", "base.author", "interacting.author")]
+              if (nrow(edges) > 0) {
+                  edges[["artifact.type"]] = ARTIFACT.CODEFACE[[proj.conf.artifact]]
+              }
               colnames(edges)[colnames(edges) == "commit.hash"] = "hash"
           } else if (proj.conf.artifact == "function") {
              ## change the vertices to the functions from the commit-interaction data
@@ -407,6 +416,9 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
 
              edges = edges[, c("func", "base.func", "commit.hash", "file", "base.hash",
                                "base.file", "base.author", "interacting.author")]
+             if (nrow(edges) > 0) {
+                 edges[["artifact.type"]] = ARTIFACT.CODEFACE[[proj.conf.artifact]]
+             }
              colnames(edges)[colnames(edges) == "commit.hash"] = "hash"
           } else {
             ## If neither 'function' nor 'file' was configured, send a warning
@@ -679,6 +691,92 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
             return(artifacts.net)
         },
 
+        #' Build and get the commit network with commit-interactions as the relation.
+        #'
+        #'  @return the commit-interaction commit network
+        get.commit.network.commit.interaction = function() {
+
+            logging::logdebug("get.commit.network.commit.interaction: starting.")
+
+            ## do not compute anything more than once
+            if (!is.null(private$commits.network.commit.interaction)) {
+                logging::logdebug("get.commit.network.commit.interaction: finished. (already existing)")
+                return(private$commits.network.commit.interaction)
+            }
+
+            ## get the hashes that appear in the commit-interaction data as the vertices of the network
+            vertices = unique(c(private$proj.data$get.commit.interactions()[["base.hash"]],
+                                private$proj.data$get.commit.interactions()[["commit.hash"]]))
+            vertices = data.frame(name = vertices)
+
+            ## get the commit-interaction data as the edge data of the network
+            edges = private$proj.data$get.commit.interactions()
+            ## set the commits as the 'to' and 'from' of the network and order the dataframe
+            edges = edges[, c("base.hash", "commit.hash", "func", "interacting.author",
+                              "file", "base.author", "base.func", "base.file")]
+            if (nrow(edges) > 0) {
+                edges[["artifact.type"]] = ARTIFACT.COMMIT.INTERACTION
+            }
+            colnames(edges)[1] = "to"
+            colnames(edges)[2] = "from"
+            commit.net.data = list(vertices = vertices, edges = edges)
+            ## construct the network
+            commit.net = construct.network.from.edge.list(
+                commit.net.data[["vertices"]],
+                commit.net.data[["edges"]],
+                network.conf = private$network.conf,
+                directed = private$network.conf$get.value("commit.directed"),
+                available.edge.attributes = private$proj.data$
+                                            get.data.columns.for.data.source("commit.interactions")
+            )
+
+            private$commits.network.commit.interaction = commit.net
+            logging::logdebug("get.commit.network.commit.interaction: finished.")
+
+            return(commit.net)
+        },
+
+        #' Get the cochange-based commit network,
+        #' If it does not already exist build it first.
+        #'
+        #' @return the commit network with cochange realtion
+        get.commit.network.cochange = function() {
+
+            logging::logdebug("get.commit.network.cochange: starting.")
+
+            ## do not compute anything more than once
+            if (!is.null(private$commits.network.cochange)) {
+                logging::logdebug("get.commit.network.cochange: finished. (already existing)")
+                return(private$commits.network.cochange)
+            }
+
+            ## construct edge list based on commit--artifact data
+            commit.net.data.raw = private$proj.data$group.commits.by.data.column("artifact")
+
+            commit.net.data = construct.edge.list.from.key.value.list(
+                commit.net.data.raw,
+                network.conf = private$network.conf,
+                directed = private$network.conf$get.value("commit.directed"),
+                respect.temporal.order = TRUE,
+                network.type = "commit"
+            )
+
+            ## construct network from obtained data
+            commit.net = construct.network.from.edge.list(
+                commit.net.data[["vertices"]],
+                commit.net.data[["edges"]],
+                network.conf = private$network.conf,
+                directed = private$network.conf$get.value("commit.directed"),
+                available.edge.attributes = private$proj.data$get.data.columns.for.data.source("commits")
+            )
+
+            ## store network
+            private$commits.network.cochange = commit.net
+            logging::logdebug("get.commit.network.cochange: finished.")
+
+            return(commit.net)
+        },
+
         ## * * bipartite relations ------------------------------------------
 
         #' Get the key-value data for the bipartite relations,
@@ -753,6 +851,8 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
             private$artifacts.network.cochange = NULL
             private$artifacts.network.issue = NULL
             private$artifacts.network.mail = NULL
+            private$commits.network.commit.interaction = NULL
+            private$commits.network.cochange = NULL
             private$proj.data = private$proj.data.original
             if (private$network.conf$get.value("unify.date.ranges")) {
                 private$cut.data.to.same.timestamps()
@@ -929,6 +1029,48 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
             return(net)
         },
 
+        #' Get the generic commit network.
+        #'
+        #' @return the generic commit network
+        get.commit.network = function() {
+            logging::loginfo("Constructing commit network.")
+
+            ## construct network
+            relations = private$network.conf$get.value("commit.relation")
+            networks = lapply(relations, function(relation) {
+                network = switch(
+                    relation,
+                    cochange = private$get.commit.network.cochange(),
+                    commit.interaction = private$get.commit.network.commit.interaction(),
+                    stop(sprintf("The commit relation '%s' does not exist.", relation))
+                )
+
+                ## set edge attributes on all edges
+                igraph::E(network)$type = TYPE.EDGES.INTRA
+                igraph::E(network)$relation = relation
+
+                return(network)
+            })
+            net = merge.networks(networks)
+
+            ## set vertex and edge attributes for identifaction
+            igraph::V(net)$kind = TYPE.COMMIT
+            igraph::V(net)$type = TYPE.COMMIT
+
+            ## simplify network if wanted
+            if (private$network.conf$get.value("simplify")) {
+                net = simplify.network(net, simplify.multiple.relations =
+                                            private$network.conf$get.value("simplify.multiple.relations"))
+            }
+
+            ## add range attribute for later analysis (if available)
+            if ("RangeData" %in% class(private$proj.data)) {
+                attr(net, "range") = private$proj.data$get.range()
+            }
+
+            return(net)
+        },
+
         #' Get the (real) bipartite network.
         #'
         #' @return the bipartite network
@@ -1050,12 +1192,15 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
             authors.net = self$get.author.network()
             ## artifact relation
             artifacts.net = self$get.artifact.network()
+            ## commit relation
+            commit.net = self$get.commit.network()
 
             return(list(
                 "authors.to.artifacts" = authors.to.artifacts,
                 "bipartite.net" = bipartite.net,
                 "authors.net" = authors.net,
-                "artifacts.net" = artifacts.net
+                "artifacts.net" = artifacts.net,
+                "commits.net" = commit.net
             ))
         },
 
@@ -1185,14 +1330,17 @@ NetworkBuilder = R6::R6Class("NetworkBuilder",
 #'                               i.e., whether to only add edges from the later event to the previous one.
 #'                               If \code{NA} is passed, the default value is taken.
 #'                               [default: directed]
-#' @param artifact.edges whether the key value data represents edges in an artifact network based
-#'                       on the cochange relation
-#'                       [default: FALSE]
+#' @param network.type the type of network for which the key value data is to be used as edges
+#'                     (one out of "author", "artifact", or "commit")[default: "author"]
 #'
 #' @return a list of two data.frames named 'vertices' and 'edges' (compatible with return value
 #'         of \code{igraph::as.data.frame})
 construct.edge.list.from.key.value.list = function(list, network.conf, directed = FALSE,
-                                                   respect.temporal.order = directed, artifact.edges = FALSE) {
+                                                   respect.temporal.order = directed,
+                                                   network.type = c("author", "artifact", "commit")) {
+
+    network.type = match.arg.or.default(network.type, default = "author", several.ok = FALSE)
+
     logging::loginfo("Create edges.")
     logging::logdebug("construct.edge.list.from.key.value.list: starting.")
 
@@ -1214,7 +1362,7 @@ construct.edge.list.from.key.value.list = function(list, network.conf, directed
     ## replace it with the \code{author.name} attribute as artifacts cannot cause
     ## edges in artifact networks, authors can
     edge.attributes = network.conf$get.value("edge.attributes")
-    if (artifact.edges) {
+    if (network.type == "artifact") {
         artifact.index = match("artifact", edge.attributes, nomatch = NA)
         if (!is.na(artifact.index)) {
             edge.attributes = edge.attributes[-artifact.index]
@@ -1222,138 +1370,212 @@ construct.edge.list.from.key.value.list = function(list, network.conf, directed
         }
     }
 
+    ## if edges in a commit network contain 'hash' or 'file' attributes, remove them
+    ## as they belong to commits, which are the vertices in commit networks
+    if (network.type == "commit") {
+        cols.which = which(edge.attributes %in% c("hash", "file"))
+        edge.attributes = edge.attributes[-cols.which]
+    }
+
     if (respect.temporal.order) {
 
         ## for all subsets (sets), connect all items in there with the previous ones
-        edge.list.data = parallel::mclapply(list, function(set) {
-            number.edges = sum(seq_len(nrow(set)) - 1)
-            logging::logdebug("[%s/%s] Constructing edges for %s '%s': starting (%s edges to construct).",
-                              match(attr(set, "group.name"), keys), keys.number,
-                              attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"), number.edges)
-
-            ## Skip artifacts with many, many edges
-            if (number.edges > network.conf$get.value("skip.threshold")) {
-                logging::logwarn("Skipping edges for %s '%s' due to amount (> %s).",
-                                 attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"), network.conf$get.value("skip.threshold"))
-                return(NULL)
-            }
+        edge.list.data = parallel::mclapply(list, construct.edges.temporal.order, network.conf,
+                                            edge.attributes, keys, keys.number, network.type)
 
-            ## queue of already processed artifacts
-            edge.list.set = data.frame()
-            vertices.processed.set = c()
+        edge.list = plyr::rbind.fill(edge.list.data)
+        vertices.processed = unlist(parallel::mclapply(edge.list.data, function(data) {
+            return(attr(data, "vertices.processed"))
+            }))
 
-            ## connect the current item to all previous ones
-            for (item.no in seq_len(nrow(set))) {
-                item = set[item.no, ]
+    } else {
 
-                ## get vertex data
-                item.vertex = item[["data.vertices"]]
+        ## for all items in the sublists, construct the cartesian product
+        edge.list.data = parallel::mclapply(list, construct.edges.no.temporal.order, network.conf,
+                                            edge.attributes, keys, keys.number)
 
-                ## get edge attributes
-                cols.which = edge.attributes %in% colnames(item)
-                item.edge.attrs = item[ , edge.attributes[cols.which], drop = FALSE]
+        edge.list = plyr::rbind.fill(edge.list.data)
+        vertices.processed = unlist(parallel::mclapply(edge.list.data, function(data) {
+            return(attr(data, "vertices.processed"))
+        }))
 
-                ## construct edges
-                combinations = expand.grid(item.vertex, vertices.processed.set, stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
-                if (nrow(combinations) > 0 & nrow(item.edge.attrs) == 1) {
-                    combinations = cbind(combinations, item.edge.attrs, row.names = NULL) # add edge attributes
-                }
-                edge.list.set = rbind(edge.list.set, combinations) # add to edge list
+    }
 
-                ## mark current item as processed
-                vertices.processed.set = c(vertices.processed.set, item.vertex)
-            }
+    logging::logdebug("construct.edge.list.from.key.value.list: finished.")
+
+    if (network.type == "commit") {
+        vertices.dates.processed = unlist(parallel::mclapply(edge.list.data, function(data) {
+            return (attr(data, "vertices.dates.processed"))
+        }))
+        return(list(
+            vertices = data.frame(
+                name = unique(vertices.processed),
+                date = get.date.from.string(unique(vertices.dates.processed))
+            ),
+            edges = edge.list
+        ))
+    } else {
+        return(list(
+            vertices = data.frame(
+                name = unique(vertices.processed)
+            ),
+            edges = edge.list
+        ))
+    }
+}
+
+#' Constructs edge list from the given key value list respecting temporal order.
+#' Helper method which is called by 'construct.edge.list.by.key.value.list'.
+#'
+#' @param set the given key value list
+#' @param network.conf the network configuration
+#' @param edge.attributes the attributes that should be on the edges of the network
+#' @param keys the keys of the key value list
+#' @param keys.number the amount of keys in the key value list
+#' @param network.type the type of network that should be created
+#'
+#' @return the data for the edge list
+construct.edges.temporal.order = function(set, network.conf, edge.attributes, keys, keys.number, network.type) {
+    number.edges = sum(seq_len(nrow(set)) - 1)
+    logging::logdebug("[%s/%s] Constructing edges for %s '%s': starting (%s edges to construct).",
+                      match(attr(set, "group.name"), keys), keys.number,
+                      attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"), number.edges)
+
+    ## Skip artifacts with many, many edges
+    if (number.edges > network.conf$get.value("skip.threshold")) {
+        logging::logwarn("Skipping edges for %s '%s' due to amount (> %s).",
+                         attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"), network.conf$get.value("skip.threshold"))
+        return(NULL)
+    }
 
-            ## store set of processed vertices
-            attr(edge.list.set, "vertices.processed") = vertices.processed.set
+    if (network.type == "commit") {
+        set = set[order(set[["date"]]), ]
+    }
 
-            logging::logdebug("Constructing edges for %s '%s': finished.", attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"))
+    ## queue of already processed artifacts
+    edge.list.set = data.frame()
+    vertices.processed.set = c()
 
-            return(edge.list.set)
-        })
+    ## connect the current item to all previous ones
+    for (item.no in seq_len(nrow(set))) {
+        item = set[item.no, ]
 
-        edge.list = plyr::rbind.fill(edge.list.data)
-        vertices.processed = unlist( parallel::mclapply(edge.list.data, function(data) attr(data, "vertices.processed")) )
+        ## get vertex data
+        item.vertex = item[["data.vertices"]]
+        if (network.type == "commit") {
+            item.vertex = data.frame(commit = item.vertex, date = get.date.string(item[["date"]]))
+        }
 
-    } else {
+        ## get edge attributes
+        cols.which = edge.attributes %in% colnames(item)
+        item.edge.attrs = item[ , edge.attributes[cols.which], drop = FALSE]
+
+        ## construct edges
+        combinations = c()
+        if (network.type == "commit") {
+            combinations = expand.grid(item.vertex[["commit"]],
+                                       vertices.processed.set[["commit"]], stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
+        } else {
+            combinations = expand.grid(item.vertex, vertices.processed.set, stringsAsFactors = FALSE)
+        }
 
-        ## for all items in the sublists, construct the cartesian product
-        edge.list.data = parallel::mclapply(list, function(set) {
-            number.edges = sum(table(set[["data.vertices"]]) * (dim(table(set[["data.vertices"]])) - 1))
-            logging::logdebug("[%s/%s] Constructing edges for %s '%s': starting (%s edges to construct).",
-                              match(attr(set, "group.name"), keys), keys.number,
-                              attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"), number.edges)
-
-            ## Skip artifacts with many, many edges
-            if (number.edges > network.conf$get.value("skip.threshold")) {
-                logging::logwarn("Skipping edges for %s '%s' due to amount (> %s).",
-                                 attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"), network.conf$get.value("skip.threshold"))
-                return(NULL)
-            }
+        if (nrow(combinations) > 0 && nrow(item.edge.attrs) == 1) {
+            combinations = cbind(combinations, item.edge.attrs, row.names = NULL) # add edge attributes
+        }
+        edge.list.set = rbind(edge.list.set, combinations) # add to edge list
 
-            ## get vertex data
-            vertices = unique(set[["data.vertices"]])
+        ## mark current item as processed
+        if (network.type == "commit") {
+            vertices.processed.set = rbind(vertices.processed.set, item.vertex)
+        } else {
+            vertices.processed.set = c(vertices.processed.set, item.vertex)
+        }
+    }
 
-            ## break if there is no author
-            if (length(vertices) < 1) {
-                return(NULL)
-            }
+    ## store set of processed vertices
+    if (network.type == "commit") {
+        attr(edge.list.set, "vertices.processed") = vertices.processed.set[["commit"]]
+        attr(edge.list.set, "vertices.dates.processed") = vertices.processed.set[["date"]]
+    } else {
+        attr(edge.list.set, "vertices.processed") = vertices.processed.set
+    }
 
-            ## if there is only one author, just create the vertex, but no edges
-            if (length(vertices) == 1) {
-                edges = data.frame()
-                attr(edges, "vertices.processed") = vertices # store set of processed vertices
-                return(edges)
-            }
+    logging::logdebug("Constructing edges for %s '%s': finished.", attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"))
 
-            ## get combinations
-            combinations = combn(vertices, 2) # all unique pairs of authors
+    return(edge.list.set)
+}
 
-            ## construct edge list
-            edges = apply(combinations, 2, function(comb) {
+#' Constructs edge list from the given key value list not respecting temporal order.
+#' Helper method which is called by 'construct.edge.list.by.key.value.list'.
+#'
+#' @param set the given key value list
+#' @param network.conf the network configuration
+#' @param edge.attributes the attributes that should be on the edges of the network
+#' @param keys the keys of the key value list
+#' @param keys.number the amount of keys in the key value list
+#'
+#' @return the data for the edge list
+construct.edges.no.temporal.order = function(set, network.conf, edge.attributes, keys, keys.number) {
+    number.edges = sum(table(set[["data.vertices"]]) * (dim(table(set[["data.vertices"]])) - 1))
+    logging::logdebug("[%s/%s] Constructing edges for %s '%s': starting (%s edges to construct).",
+                      match(attr(set, "group.name"), keys), keys.number,
+                      attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"), number.edges)
+
+    ## Skip artifacts with many, many edges
+    if (number.edges > network.conf$get.value("skip.threshold")) {
+        logging::logwarn("Skipping edges for %s '%s' due to amount (> %s).",
+                         attr(set, "group.type"), attr(set, "group.name"), network.conf$get.value("skip.threshold"))
+        return(NULL)
+    }
 
-                ## iterate over each of the two data vertices of the current combination to determine the edges
-                ## for which it is the sender of the edge and use the second one as the receiver of the edge
-                edges.by.comb.item = lapply(comb, function(comb.item) {
-                    ## basic edge data
-                    edge = data.frame(from = comb.item, to = comb[comb != comb.item])
+    ## get vertex data
+    vertices = unique(set[["data.vertices"]])
 
-                    ## get edge attibutes
-                    edge.attrs = set[set[["data.vertices"]] %in% comb.item, ] # get data for current combination item
-                    cols.which = edge.attributes %in% colnames(edge.attrs)
-                    edge.attrs = edge.attrs[ , edge.attributes[cols.which], drop = FALSE]
+    ## break if there is no author
+    if (length(vertices) < 1) {
+        return(NULL)
+    }
 
-                    # add edge attributes to edge list
-                    edgelist = cbind(edge, edge.attrs)
-                    return(edgelist)
-                })
+    ## if there is only one author, just create the vertex, but no edges
+    if (length(vertices) == 1) {
+        edges = data.frame()
+        attr(edges, "vertices.processed") = vertices # store set of processed vertices
+        return(edges)
+    }
 
-                ## union the edge lists for the combination items
-                edges.union = plyr::rbind.fill(edges.by.comb.item)
-                return(edges.union)
+    ## get combinations
+    combinations = combn(vertices, 2) # all unique pairs of authors
 
-            })
-            edges = plyr::rbind.fill(edges)
+    ## construct edge list
+    edges = apply(combinations, 2, function(comb) {
+
+        ## iterate over each of the two data vertices of the current combination to determine the edges
+        ## for which it is the sender of the edge and use the second one as the receiver of the edge
+        edges.by.comb.item = lapply(comb, function(comb.item) {
+            ## basic edge data
+            edge = data.frame(from = comb.item, to = comb[comb != comb.item])
 
-            ## store set of processed vertices
-            attr(edges, "vertices.processed") = vertices
+            ## get edge attibutes
+            edge.attrs = set[set[["data.vertices"]] %in% comb.item, ] # get data for current combination item
+            cols.which = edge.attributes %in% colnames(edge.attrs)
+            edge.attrs = edge.attrs[ , edge.attributes[cols.which], drop = FALSE]
 
-            return(edges)
+            # add edge attributes to edge list
+            edgelist = cbind(edge, edge.attrs)
+            return(edgelist)
         })
 
-        edge.list = plyr::rbind.fill(edge.list.data)
-        vertices.processed = unlist( parallel::mclapply(edge.list.data, function(data) attr(data, "vertices.processed")) )
+        ## union the edge lists for the combination items
+        edges.union = plyr::rbind.fill(edges.by.comb.item)
+        return(edges.union)
 
-    }
+    })
+    edges = plyr::rbind.fill(edges)
 
-    logging::logdebug("construct.edge.list.from.key.value.list: finished.")
+    ## store set of processed vertices
+    attr(edges, "vertices.processed") = vertices
 
-    return(list(
-        vertices = data.frame(
-            name = unique(vertices.processed)
-        ),
-        edges = edge.list
-    ))
+    return(edges)
 }
 
 #' Construct a network from the given lists of vertices and edges.
diff --git a/util-read.R b/util-read.R
index f4fe7025..06c082e5 100644
--- a/util-read.R
+++ b/util-read.R
@@ -863,14 +863,15 @@ create.empty.pasta.list = function() {
 COMMIT.INTERACTION.LIST.COLUMNS = c(
     "func", "commit.hash", "file",
     "base.hash", "base.func", "base.file",
-    "base.author", "interacting.author"
+    "base.author", "interacting.author",
+    "artifact.type"
 )
 
 ## declare the datatype for each column in the constant 'COMMIT.INTERACTION.LIST.COLUMNS'
 COMMIT.INTERACTION.LIST.DATA.TYPES = c(
     "character", "character", "character",
     "character", "character", "character",
-    "character", "character"
+    "character", "character", "character"
 )
 
 COMMIT.INTERACTION.GLOBAL.FILE.FUNCTION.NAME = "GLOBAL"
@@ -952,6 +953,7 @@ read.commit.interactions = function(data.path = NULL) {
         ## Author data will be merged from commit data in \code{update.commit.interactions}.
         interactions["base.author"] = NA_character_
         interactions["interacting.author"] = NA_character_
+        interactions["artifact.type"] = ARTIFACT.COMMIT.INTERACTION
         return(interactions)
     })))