International collaboration development in nanotechnology: a perspective of patent network analysis

International collaboration has played an important role in the development of nanotechnology. Patents encompass valuable technological information and collaborative efforts. Thus, this paper examines international collaboration development in nanotechnology using patent network analysis. The results show that the number of international collaboration nanotechnology patents has increased steadily and the proportion of them of total nanotechnology patents has likewise exhibited an upward trend. USA has always been the most influential participant with largest number of international collaboration patents. Asian countries/regions have shown an obvious increase in the number of international collaboration patents. By contrast, there have shown a generally decline in European countries. More and more countries have become actively engaged in international collaboration in nanotechnology with increasingly closer relationships. Two styles of international collaboration exit: while USA, Germany, UK and Japan collaborate with a wide range of countries/regions; Spain, Israel, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan are more selective in their collaboration partners. Though International collaboration has yet to find global significance in terms of patent citation impacts, it has nevertheless been incremental in improving patent citation impacts for most of the top 20 countries/regions since 2004.     

International scientific collaboration of post-Soviet countries: a bibliometric analysis

Scientometrics - One of the major characteristics of research is the role and scope of international collaboration. Patterns of such collaboration are often complex and determined not only by pure...     

International scientific collaboration of China: collaborating countries, institutions and individuals

Using bibliometric methods, we investigate China’s international scientific collaboration from three levels of collaborating countries, institutions and individuals. We design a database in SQL Server, and make analysis of Chinese SCI papers based on the corresponding author field. We find that China’s international scientific collaboration is focused on a handful of countries. Nearly 95 % international co-authored papers are collaborated with only 20 countries, among which the USA account for more than 40 % of all. Results also show that Chinese lineage in the international co-authorship is obvious, which means Chinese immigrant scientists are playing an important role in China’s international scientific collaboration, especially in English-speaking countries.     

Topic scientific community in science: a combined perspective of scientific collaboration and topics

Scientific communities are clusters of researchers and play important roles in modern science. Studying different forms of scientific communities that either physically or virtually exist is a feasible way to disclose underlying mechanisms of science. From the perspective of complex networks, topology-based communities and topic-based communities reflect scientific collaboration and topical features of science respectively. However, the two features are not isolated but intertwined in scientific practice. This study proposes an approach to detect Topical Scientific Communities (TSCs) with both topology and topic features by applying machine learning techniques and network theory. As an example, the TSCs of the informetrics field are detected, and then the characteristics of these TSCs are analyzed. It is shown that collaboration patterns on the topic level can be revealed by analyzing the static network structure and dynamics of TSCs. Furthermore, cross-topic collaborations at multiple levels could be investigated through TSCs. In addition, TSCs can effectively organize researchers in terms of productivity. Future work will further explore and generalize characteristics of TSCs, and the applications of TSCs to other tasks of studying science.     

International patent data: Their utilization for the analysis of technological developments

The analysis of technological developments for purposes like technological forecasting through the use of leading indicators or ex post evaluation of science and technology oriented policies, nearly always lead to the evaluation of patent statistics.From these the authors established indicators of technological development using numbers of patents applied for or granted worldwide, thus preventing sampling and weighting errors. Account was taken of the effect of patent families as well as connections between technological developments in different fields. Furthermore, methods were established to identify areas with important technological developments.The final part of the paper shows the first results of application of these methods to the comparison of international patenting activities in selected fields.     

Beyond patent analytics: Insights from a scientific and technological data mashup based on a case example

Although access to open and commercial digital sources is easily available thanks to the proliferation of the internet, R&D departments still face the challenge of how to analyze information from several sources. This paper addresses this issue specifically when technological and scientific information needs to be analyzed in an integrated manner. 12,577 families of patents, 2601 scientific papers and 706 news articles are combined, normalized and analyzed using their own metadata and text. A software tool is used to extract insights from semi-structured and unstructured data by means of text mining. Additionally, interactive force-directed graph visualization is employed to show the multiple relations of concepts during different time periods with regard to the entire technology ecosystem. Through a case study of 3D printing technology, this paper shows how to apply mashup and obtain the benefits, and it defines the challenges of using interactive visualization representation.     

International scientific collaboration of China with the G7 countries

Collaboration is one of the remarkable characteristics of contemporary basic research. Using bibliometric method, we quantitatively analyze international collaboration publication output between China and the G7 countries based on Science Citation Index. The results indicate that international collaboration publication output between China and the G7 countries has shown exponential growth aroused by the growth of science in China. USA is the most important collaboration country and the international collaboration between China and the G7 countries display differences at each research field.     

International collaboration in scientific research in Vietnam: an analysis of patterns and impact

Scientometrics - The present study sought to examine the trend and impact of international collaboration in scientific research in Vietnam during the period after the introduction of the a reform...     

Exploring pathways of regional technological development in China through patent analysis

Recently, China has experienced a surge in patenting and become the leading applicant nation worldwide. The technological substance of this growth, however, has become increasingly doubted as China's governments continue to promote patenting as a target per se. Against this background, the paper explores the structure of Chinese patenting from a regional perspective. Firstly, it analyses the technological profile, public component and outward orientation of specific provinces' technological ecosystems. Secondly, it connects these specific profiles to regions' recent growth in patent applications. Concluding, it finds that there are indications of both politically induced and technologically substantial growth in applications.     

Influences of counting methods on country rankings: a perspective from patent analysis

The counting of patents and citations is commonly used to evaluate technological innovation and its impact. However, in an age of increasing international collaboration, the counting of international collaboration patents has become a methodological issue. This study compared country rankings using four different counting methods (i.e. whole counting, straight counting, whole-normalized counting, complete-normalized counting) in patent, citation and citation-patent ratio (CP ratio) counts. It also observed inflation depending on the method used. The counting was based on the complete 1992–2011 patent and citation data issued by United States Patent and Trademark Office. The results show that counting methods have only minor effects on country rankings in patent count, citation count and CP ratio count. All four counting methods yield reliable country ranks in technology innovation capability and impact. While the influences of counting methods vary between patent count, citation count and CP ratio count, counting methods may exert slightly greater effects on CP ratio counts than on patent and citation counts. As for the inflation, the distributions of higher and lower inflation by the four counting methods are different in patent, citation and CP ratio counts.     

Mapping technological innovations through patent analysis: a case study of foreign multinationals and indigenous firms in China

This study attempts to expand the work on patenting activities of China. The characteristics of foreign multinationals and indigenous entities’ patenting activities in the US patent system are examined in our analysis. This study also attempts to model the diffusion trajectories of patenting activities that result from the functioning of two competing innovation system models adopted by China-FDI and indigenous—to compare the extent of divergence of technological innovations. The findings are useful for highlighting the path of technological innovations and understanding the dynamic potentials through analysis of the growth process. While the results suggest a dominance of foreign firms in patenting activities since the early 2000s, there is a sign of transition from industrial-based to knowledge-driven activities and the formation of evolving propagating behaviour in the production of indigenous technology.     

Mapping the scientific network of patent and non-patent documents from chemical abstracts for a fast scientific analysis

Patent literature is a unique source of information. In research management, it is often important to compare the best research areas in which a fit exists between academic scientific production and applied research. Comparison between different sets of patents is also useful. The purpose of this paper is to provide a fast and efficient way to achieve this goal by automatically mapping the research network of the set of references to be examined.     

Core technologies and key industries in Taiwan from 1978 to 2002: A perspective from patent analysis

Summary This paper uses United States patent classification analysis to study the development of core technologies and key industries in Taiwan over the last 25 years, from 1978 to 2002. After counting the number of Taiwan-held United States granted utility patents, the authors divide the years into three phases: from 1978 to 1994, with less than 500 patents each year; from 1995 to 1999, with 500-2,500 patents each year; from 2000 to 2002, with annual patents greater than 2,500. The results show that for both Taiwans core technologies and key industries, there was a great diversity at the first phase, while a mainstream forms and matures at the second and the third phases. However, industrial development at the third phase was more concentrated and focused than previous ones. Overall, Taiwan has clearly moved from a manufacturing-based economy to an innovation-based one, with its focus on high-tech industries during the previous 25 years.     

A collaborative evaluation method of the quality of patent scientific and technological resources

A justified patent quality evaluation method is critical to improving the sharing efficiency of scientific and technological resources in online platforms. We propose a collaborative evaluation method of the quality of patent scientific and technological resources, combining the subjective evaluation results from the collaborative evaluation and the objective evaluation results. Firstly, an index system of patent quality is established, with the values of three dimensions, i.e., technical, legal, and market, considered. Then a collaborative evaluation model of patent quality based on the index system is proposed. Finally, a patent quality evaluation system is developed to support the collaborative evaluation process of patent quality. Our approach improves the comprehensiveness and efficiency of patent quality evaluation, and thereby facilitates the construction and development of regional scientific and technological resources sharing platforms.     

International research collaboration in Africa: a bibliometric and thematic analysis

It is widely recognised that science in Africa will benefit from international research collaboration (IRC), and therefore studies have been done on IRC in Africa (hereafter: Africa-related IRC research). However, there is no information on the development of Africa-related IRC research, the geographical location of the scientists interested in the topic, the visibility of the literature and the themes researched. This information makes it possible to understand relevant aspects in the context of IRC in Africa, which are useful for identifying IRC strengths, weaknesses and opportunities. It also allows paving the way for future research on this topic. Using discipline–specific terms, bibliometric, and thematic analysis, I collected the literature on Africa-related IRC research indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (WoS). The results showed that the number of publications on the topic has increased, few African countries have researched the topic, a third of the publications were written exclusively by African scientists, and the topic has high visibility. The panoply of publications revealed that patterns, driving factors, effects, networks, asymmetries, and policies concerning IRC were the main themes researched.

     

Growing scientific collaboration between Hong Kong and Mainland China since the handover: a 20-year bibliometric analysis

The handover of Hong Kong launched a new era for Hong Kong and Mainland China, featuring an increasingly closer relationship. The purpose of this study was to investigate the performance and dynamics of scientific collaboration between Hong Kong and Mainland China over the past 20 years since the handover. Bibliometric analysis of scientific output, research area distribution, document type and collaborative mainland province were conducted based on publication data from the science citation index expanded database. The results showed that the number of HK-Mainland collaborative publications grew rapidly, contributing to the scientific output of Hong Kong, with the percentage share increasing to more than half in 2016. Research area analysis suggested the occurrence of gradually deepening and widespread communication between Hong Kong and Mainland China. Of fifty research areas in Hong Kong, more than half of scientific publications were completed via collaboration with the mainland in 2017. The mainland provinces that collaborated with Hong Kong showed a widening geographic scope and a simultaneous increase in collaborative activity. A distribution of Guangdong Province and Beijing as the two most active hotspots with a dozen active spots across the mainland was gradually formed. The collaborative activity of Guangdong Province has exceeded that of Beijing since 2011, while that of Guangzhou and Shenzhen increased linearly and exponentially respectively, and contributed at least 70% to Guangdong Province every year. The relationship between Hong Kong and Mainland China in science and technology has become closer than ever before.     

Ten years of the genomic era in Brazil: Impacts on technological development assessed by scientific production and patent analysis

Over ten years ago Brazil entered the era of genome projects with the launch of its first sequencing effort. Since then, a series of projects have been undertaken in the country, greatly contributing to the formation of scientific research networks, related infrastructure and specialized labor. Today, Brazil’s competence in this area is internationally recognized and it is one of the main countries in the number of genomes sequenced. This article examines the effects of these genome initiatives on Brazilian technological innovation, through a broad bibliometric review, comprising the analysis of academic and patent publications, which revealed that the development of technology has not kept pace with scientific output.     

Mapping inventive activity and technological change through patent analysis: A case study of India and China

The characteristics of Indian and Chinese patenting activity in the US patent system are examined by delineating two categories of patents; ‘nationally assigned’, and ‘invented not nationally assigned’ patents (not-nationally assigned patents in short). Further within the above two categories, patents are distinguished and analysed in terms of patent types: utility, design, and plant patents. Indian patents are mainly of utility type whereas China's activity falls in both utility and design.In the ‘nationally assigned’ patents, the different types of institutions involved and linkages are much higher for China. However, ‘not-nationally assigned’ patents of both the countries are dominated by industry and inter-institutional collaborations are sparse. Patents addressing technology sectors (analysis based on utility patents) do not exhibit major differences between the two categories in Chinese patents and address with varying degree all technology sectors. Unlike China, India's ‘nationally assigned’ patents are concentrated in chemical and drugs & medical whereas their ‘not-nationally assigned’ patents are similar to that of China in addressing technology sectors. In design patents, Chinese ‘nationally assigned’ patents mainly cover ornamental design of lighting equipments whereas their ‘not-nationally assigned’ patents are mainly in design equipment for production, distribution or transformation of energy. Further, few firms are active in design patents in both the categories. India's design activity is insignificant in both the categories. The paper concludes by examining the results in the policy context. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

An experimental provision of patent and non-patent documents to research and developmental projects in a scientific research council in Zambia: a comparative evaluation of the value of patent information in scientific and technological research and development

The value of patent information in the transfer of technology to developing countries and its relevance in R&D is assessed by the provision of patent and non-patent documents to R&D projects. The documents were then evaluated by researchers on the basis of: relevance, novelty, extent of disclosure and on ease of adaption of the technologies disclosed. Tabular and statistical data of the evaluation is given.     

Evolutionary dynamics of scientific collaboration networks: multi-levels and cross-time analysis

Several studies exist which use scientific literature for comparing scientific activities (e.g., productivity, and collaboration). In this study, using co-authorship data over the last 40 years, we present the evolutionary dynamics of multi level (i.e., individual, institutional and national) collaboration networks for exploring the emergence of collaborations in the research field of “steel structures”. The collaboration network of scientists in the field has been analyzed using author affiliations extracted from Scopus between 1970 and 2009. We have studied collaboration distribution networks at the micro-, meso- and macro-levels for the 40 years. We compared and analyzed a number of properties of these networks (i.e., density, centrality measures, the giant component and clustering coefficient) for presenting a longitudinal analysis and statistical validation of the evolutionary dynamics of “steel structures” collaboration networks. At all levels, the scientific collaborations network structures were central considering the closeness centralization while betweenness and degree centralization were much lower. In general networks density, connectedness, centralization and clustering coefficient were highest in marco-level and decreasing as the network size grow to the lowest in micro-level. We also find that the average distance between countries about two and institutes five and for authors eight meaning that only about eight steps are necessary to get from one randomly chosen author to another.