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• Simulation of complex networks. • Simulation of dissemination protocols. • Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS). • Adaptive self-clustering for load-balancing. Complex networks are an important methodology to model several (if not all) aspects of the real world, in which multiple entities interact, in some way. While many aspects related to such interactions can be investigated by looking at the general mathematical metrics of the networks, an alternative approach lies in the simulation of some application protocol on top of (large scale) complex networks. In this paper, we present a study on this intricate problem. The complexity of the simulation is due to the need to model all the interactions among network nodes. We focus on discrete-event simulation, a simulation methodology that enables both sequential (i.e. monolithic) and Parallel And Distributed Simulation (i.e. PADS) approaches. We discuss the performance and scalability requirements that the simulator should have. We also introduce a case study based on the agent-based simulation of gossip dissemination on top of a complex network. To demonstrate the viability of this simulation technique, we focus on a tool we built to simulate complex networks. The tool exploits adaptive partitioning mechanisms, which are essential to reduce the communication overhead in the PADS. An experimental evaluation has been conducted using different network topologies and simulator setups. Results demonstrate the feasibility of the approach to simulate complex networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]