Research on Correlation Control of Subjective Patent Indicators Based on Progressive Constraint

Abstract

Patent indicator evaluation is a relatively objective patent quality evaluation method recognized by academia. Some subjective patent indicators are often related, which to some extent interferes with the objectivity of patent evaluation. This study selects five commonly used subjective patent indicators that are directly related to the compilers of patent documents, which includes patent forward citations, patent family, four digit international patent classifications, patentees, and patent inventors. Through the progressive limitation of the three constraints of patentees, patent priority countries, and patent disclosure years, the correlation between the subjective patent indicators is compared. The research results show that under the control of progressive constraint conditions, the positive correlation between subjective patent indicators is increasingly strengthened as a whole and has strong controllability. Further verification shows that the direct compilers of patent documents can affect the results of patent indicator evaluation by controlling the subjective patent indicator data, thus interfering with the evaluation of patent quality. It is recommended that researchers carefully select multiple subjective patent indicators with strong correlation before using patent indicators to evaluate patent quality, and complete the correlation analysis and screening of subjective patent indicators in advance.