Premium
Patent citations reexamined
Author(s) -
Kuhn Jeffrey,
Younge Kenneth,
Marco Alan
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
the rand journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.687
H-Index - 108
eISSN - 1756-2171
pISSN - 0741-6261
DOI - 10.1111/1756-2171.12307
Subject(s) - similarity (geometry) , field (mathematics) , intellectual property , replicate , economics , actuarial science , computer science , political science , law , mathematics , statistics , artificial intelligence , pure mathematics , image (mathematics)
Many studies rely on patent citations to measure intellectual heritage and impact. In this article, we show that the nature of patent citations has changed dramatically in recent years. Today, a small minority of patent applications are generating a large majority of patent citations, and the mean technological similarity between citing and cited patents has fallen considerably. We replicate several well‐known studies in industrial organization and innovation economics and demonstrate how generalized assumptions about the nature of patent citations have misled the field.