Skip to main content
Log in

Patent bibliometrics

  • Published:
Scientometrics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In our 1975 monograph “Evaluative Bibliometrics” we discussed the many uses of publication and citation analysis in the evaluation of scientific activities, and some of the basic statistical properties of the scientific literature, particularly the skewness of the distributions of publications and citations, reference time distributions, and various anomalies in the citation patterns from one country to another. Over the last ten years we have devoted much of our energy to the development of an analogous research base and infrastructure for patent bibliometrics, that is for the use of patents, and patent citations in the evaluation of technological activities. There are remarkable similarities between literature bibliometrics and patent bibliometrics, and they are both applicable to the same wide ranges of problems. This paper will show that there are striking similarities between literature and patent distributions of national productivity, inventor productivity, referencing cycles, citation impact and within country citation preferences.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. F. J. Cole, N. B. Eales, The history of comparative anatomy,Science Progress, 11 (1917) 578–596.

    Google Scholar 

  2. D. J. de Solla Price, Measuring the size of science,Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Science and Humanities, 10–11 (1969).

  3. D. J. de Solla Price,Little Science, Big Science, New Haven, Yale University Press, 1963.

    Google Scholar 

  4. A. J. Lotka, The frequency distribution of scientific productivity,Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 16 (June 1926) 317–323.

    Google Scholar 

  5. F. Narin, A. Breitzman, Inventive productivity, to be published inResearch Policy, December 1993.

  6. F. Narin, E. Noma, Is technology becoming science?Scientometrics, 7 (1985) 369–381.

    Google Scholar 

  7. F. Narin,TECH-LINE TM Source Book. CHI Research, Inc. May 1991.

  8. M. P. Carpenter, F. Narin, P. Woolf, Citation rates to technologically important patents,World Patent Information, 3, 4 (1981) 160–163.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. M. B. Albert, D. Avery, P. McAllister, F. Narin, Direct validation of citation counts as indicators of industrially important patents,Rescarch Policy, 20 (1991) 251–259.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Narin, F. Patent bibliometrics. Scientometrics 30, 147–155 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017219

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02017219

Keywords

Navigation