OECD Patent Statistics Manual

This 2009 edition of the OECD Patent Statistics Manual takes stock of the recent developments in the field. It provides guiding principles for the use of patent data in the context of S&T measurement, and recommendations for the compilation and interpretation of patent indicators in this context.

It aims to show what patent statistics can and cannot be used for, and how to count patents in order to maximise information on S&T activities while minimising statistical noise and biases. It describes how patent data can be used in the analysis of a wide array of topics related to technical change and patenting activity including industry-science linkages, patenting strategies by companies, internationalisation of research, and indicators on the value of patents.



Patent data provide unique insights into the processes and outcomes of inventive activities (e.g. the location of inventive activities, inventive networks, emerging technologies, etc.). Used with other data, they support the analysis of other dimensions of innovation that are of policy interest, such as the role of intellectual property in economic performance, entrepreneurship, and the tracking of linkages in the S&T system. Yet, patent-based indicators suffer from several weaknesses and, as a result, they should be designed and interpreted with care, hence the need for this manual.

Table of Contents
Objectives and Scope of the Manual
Patents as Statistical Indicators of Science and Technology
Patent Systems and Procedures
Basic Criteria for Compiling Patent-Based Indicators
Classifying Patents by Different Criteria
The Use and Analysis of Citations in Patents
Indicators of the Internationalisation of Science and Technology
Indicators of Patent Value