Patent citation analysis - A closer look at the basic input data from patent search reports

The present paper focuses on some important requirements for understanding patent search reports in view of their use for statistical analysis. It is pointed out and illustrated that the comprehensiveness and the quality of a given search report may vary significantly as a function of the patent office drawing up the report. These differences imply consequences with respect to the safe use and interpretation of the data. The authors stress that a sound analysis based on patent citation data can only be performed in a meaningful way if the analyst has a minimum knowledge of the underlying search reports.