Abstract
We introduce, validate, and make publicly available a new data source for innovation research: scientific references in patent specifications. These references are common and algorithmically extractable. Critically, they are very different from the “front page” prior art commonly used to proxy for inventor knowledge. Only 24% of front page citations to academic articles are in the patent text, and 31% of in-text citations are on the front page. We explain these differences by describing the legal rules and practice governing citation. Empirical validations suggest that in-text citations are qualitatively different. Further, there is suggestive evidence that they more accurately proxy for knowledge flows, consistent with their legal role.
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