Title: A recursive process for mapping and clustering technology literatures: case study in solid-state lighting

Authors: Kevin W. Boyack, Jeffrey Y. Tsao, Ann Miksovic, Mark Huey

Addresses: Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA. ' Sandia National Laboratories, PO Box 5800, Albuquerque, NM 87185, USA. ' Strategic Perspectives, Inc., Boulder, CO, USA. ' Strategic Perspectives, Inc., Boulder, CO, USA

Abstract: We present a method for partitioning article and patent literatures for the purpose of identifying sub-domains within those literatures at multiple levels. The method is based on bibliographic coupling, and is used recursively to identify fine-grained clusters of articles or patents, along with higher level aggregations of those clusters. This method is applied in an analysis of the literatures of solid-state lighting, using a comprehensive dataset of 35,851 English-language articles and 12,420 US patents published or issued during the years 1977-2004. An analysis of trends by nation and continent is reported for the entire knowledge domain as well as at the highest level of clustering. The fine-grained clusters are used to identify the hottest recent topics in both the scientific (articles) and technical (patents) literatures.

Keywords: recursive; mapping; clustering; technology literature; solid-state lighting; SSL; bibliographic coupling; patents; scientific articles; trends; hot topics; fine-grained clusters.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTTC.2009.023434

International Journal of Technology Transfer and Commercialisation, 2009 Vol.8 No.1, pp.51 - 87

Published online: 23 Feb 2009 *

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