Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine
Faculty of Law, Economics and Finance
Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences
Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust
Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine
Luxembourg Centre for Contemporary and Digital History
Luxembourg Centre for European Law
Luxembourg Centre for Socio-Environmental Systems
Breaking the Paywall? Patents as Channels for Scientific Disclosure
Abstract
This paper examines whether patents can mitigate barriers to accessing paywalled research. We construct a new dataset of patent–paper pairs by linking NIH-funded articles to patents that disclose the same underlying discoveries, using a machine-learning pipeline that combines image recognition with text extraction. We show that paywalled articles linked to a patent receive more citations than comparable paywalled articles without a linked patent, with the increase concentrated in patent-to-paper citations—consistent with patents acting as an accessible channel for technical knowledge when journal access is restricted. The pattern is broadly evident across inventor locations, with some heterogeneity outside major research hubs. Overall, the findings indicate that patent disclosure partially substitutes for open access and helps reduce barriers to the diffusion of publicly funded science.
About the speaker
Emilio Raiteri is Assistant Professor in the Technology, Innovation & Society group at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). He is an applied economist whose research focuses on the economics of innovation, particularly innovation policy and intellectual property. Before joining TU/e, he was a postdoctoral fellow at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) in Switzerland. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Turin in February 2015, where he was affiliated with BRICK (Bureau of Research on Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge) and Collegio Carlo Alberto.
Language
English
This is a free seminar. Registration is mandatory.
Supported by the Fond National de la Recherche,
Luxembourg (19441346)