TY - JOUR AU - Jaffe, Adam B AU - de Rassenfosse, Gaétan TI - Patent Citation Data in Social Science Research: Overview and Best Practices JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 21868 PY - 2016 Y2 - January 2016 DO - 10.3386/w21868 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w21868 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w21868.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Adam B. Jaffe 188 Brookline Avenue Apartment 26A Boston, MA 02215 Tel: 857-277-9927 E-Mail: adam.jaffe@motu.org.nz Gaétan de Rassenfosse Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne College of Management of Technology Odyssea Station 5 CH-1015 Lausanne E-Mail: gaetan.derassenfosse@epfl.ch AB - The last two decades have witnessed a dramatic increase in the use of patent citation data in social science research. Facilitated by digitization of the patent data and increasing computing power, a community of practice has grown up that has developed methods for using these data to: measure attributes of innovations such as impact and originality; to trace flows of knowledge across individuals, institutions and regions; and to map innovation networks. The objective of this paper is threefold. First, it takes stock of these main uses. Second, it discusses four pitfalls associated with patent citation data, related to office, time and technology, examiner, and strategic effects. Third, it highlights gaps in our understanding and offers directions for future research. ER -