Figure 3-24 



Percent of Basic Patents Citing Research 



Literature, by Field of Science 



and Engineering, 1950-61 and 1962-73 



(Percent) 

 10 20 30 



I I I 



Electrical 

 Engineering 



Chemistry 



Physics 



40 



I 



Metallurgy 



Mechanical 

 Engineering 



Medicine 



SOURCE: Franklin Pierce College Law Center 

 and the PTC Research Foundation, 



1950-61 

 1962-73 



chemistry and electrical engineering (29 and 31 

 percent) over the 1950-73 period. Following 

 these were physics (22 percent), biology (14 

 percent), metallurgy (8 percent), mechanical 

 engineering (8 percent), and medicine (4 per- 

 cent). 



Sectors producing cited research. For each 

 research citation, the institutional sector in 

 which the cited research was performed was 

 identified (figure 3-25). In the 1950-61 period, 

 most of the research cited in the sample was 

 performed in corporate laboratories (57 per- 

 cent). In the 1962-73 period, however, corporate 

 research was cited least frequently, accounting 

 for only 15 percent of the research citations. 

 Universities, on the other hand, rose from 

 second place (28 percent) in 1950-61 to first place 

 in 1962-73, with 54 percent of the cited research 

 being performed in this sector. Research in 

 academic institutions also accounted for most of 

 the basic research citations in both periods, and 

 applied research in the second period. These 

 results should be considered, however, in 

 respect to the total literature output of each of 

 the four sectors. While most academic research 

 is published without restraint, it is generally 

 believed that research reports of corporate and 

 government-affiliated scientists may be 

 published less frequently because of their 

 proprietary or national security character. 



Time between research and application 



Many of the results from basic research are 

 not immediately incorporated into applied 

 technologies. Often a long period of time is 

 required to synthesize research results, or to 

 await an economic or social need for a particular 

 application in technology. 



In the present study, the time between the 

 research and its utilization in technology was 

 defined as the interval between the publication 

 date of the cited research and the date of patent 

 application. The average time was found to 

 decrease from seven to six years from the first to 

 the second half of the 1950-73 period. The most 

 recent period covered in the study (1970-73) has 

 an average time interval of only three years, 

 suggesting an increasingly rapid utilization of 

 research results in modern technology. 



79 



