Patent Citation Inflation: The Phenomena, Measurement Methods, and Proposed Solutions Based on Relative Citation Indicators

Abstract

Over the last forty years, the USPTO annually has granted an increasing number of patents with a great large number of references to other patents. Such an increase in the number of references has led to serious patent citation inflation in the period. In the article, we present some formulas used to calculate citation inflation rates, and propose some solutions based on relative citation indicators to amend, improve and complement some traditional citation theories and patent evaluation approaches. The results of this research on patent citation inflation confirm the abilities of the new established indicators, measurement methods, and proposed solutions based on relative citation indicators.