Do more citations mean better patents?

TL;DR

This paper reviews empirical evidence on whether patent citations reliably indicate invention importance, highlighting that citations are correlated with value but are noisy and not definitive indicators.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive survey of validation studies on patent citations as a proxy for invention importance, clarifying their strengths and limitations.

Findings

Citations are positively associated with invention value

Citation counts are correlated but noisy indicators

Citations do not definitively measure invention importance

Abstract

This article reviews the empirical evidence on the use of patent citations as a proxy for invention importance. It distinguishes between technical merit, private economic value, and social value, and surveys validation studies using expert ratings, market data, renewal records, and compensation reports. The findings confirm that while the count of citations is positively associated with various dimensions of value, it remains a noisy indicator -- correlated but far from definitive.