Study on the measurement of international knowledge flow based on the patent citation network

A quantitative analysis based on patent citation is an effective method for measuring transnational knowledge flow. The understanding of knowledge flow among countries provides a special perspective for enhancing the realisation of the interaction between different national innovation producers. This paper analyses a transnational patent citation network in the field of electrical and electronic technology during three different time periods from 1984 to 2006, based on the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) patent statistic database, published by the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). The paper utilises the methods in social network analysis, such as k-core and block modelling, to analyse the patterns and features of international knowledge flow from the following perspectives: the distribution of transnational patent citations, the core-periphery structure of the transnational patent citation network, and the internal knowledge flow among countries of the coregroup.