Ex-ante measure of patent quality reveals intrinsic fitness for citation-network growth

We have constructed a fitness parameter, characterizing the intrinsic attractiveness for patents to be cited, from attributes of the associated inventions known at the time a patent is granted. This exogenously obtained fitness is shown to determine the temporal growth of the citation network in con...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review. E 2019-06, Vol.99 (6-1), p.060301-060301, Article 060301
Main Authors: Higham, K W, Governale, M, Jaffe, A B, Zülicke, U
Format: Article
Language:English
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We have constructed a fitness parameter, characterizing the intrinsic attractiveness for patents to be cited, from attributes of the associated inventions known at the time a patent is granted. This exogenously obtained fitness is shown to determine the temporal growth of the citation network in conjunction with mechanisms of preferential attachment and obsolescence-induced aging that operate without reference to characteristics of individual patents. Our study opens a window to understanding quantitatively the interplay of the rich-gets-richer and fit-gets-richer paradigms that have been suggested to govern the growth dynamics of real-world complex networks.
ISSN:2470-0045
2470-0053
DOI:10.1103/PhysRevE.99.060301