A method which makes it possible to select a predefined maximum number N of documents from a set of electronic documents. A graph G is constructed on the basis of the set of electronic documents, each vertex of the graph G corresponding to one of the documents of said set and each edge between two vertices of the graph indicating the presence of at least one hypertext link between the two documents, corresponding to the two vertices considered. The method uses the topological properties of this graph to select a subset of N documents. A minor MG of the graph G is generated comprising a predefined maximum number N of vertices by deletion of at least one vertex of the graph G, this deletion being aimed at minimizing for the predefined number N of vertices a predefined distance between the graph G and the minor MG, this distance measuring the perturbation of the neighborhood of the vertices of the graph G that is engendered by the generation of the minor MG.