Journal of Measurement and Evaluation
JME, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp.59-78.
Print ISSN: 3135-4661; Online ISSN: 3135-467X
Journal homepage: https://www.jmeacta.com
DOI：Https://doi.org/10.64058/JME.26.1.04
The Evaluation Significance of Patents Cited by Humanities and Social Sciences Papers from the Perspective of Philosophy of Technology
Rui Li, Yang Gou, Zhibo Zhuang, Yu Gu
Abstract: The international authoritative patent intelligence firm CHI incorporated the "citations" between patents and scientific papers into the patent measurement indicator system, which has been widely used for over two decades. However, the phenomenon of patents being cited by humanities and social sciences papers has rarely been studied. This paper is based on two opposing theories within the philosophy of technology: the technological critique theory of the traditional pessimistic humanistic faction and the actor-network theory of the modern social construction faction, and proposes two contrary hypotheses: The first hypothesis assumes that the attitude of the humanities and social sciences toward technological inventions is one of concern and critique, thus hypothesizing that the vitality of patents is negatively correlated with the frequency of their citation (critique) by humanities and social sciences papers; The second hypothesis assumes that the relationship between the humanities and technological inventions is one of dialogue, negotiation, and mutual construction, thus hypothesizing that the vitality of patents is positively correlated with the number of humanities disciplines citing them (dimensions of dialogue and negotiation) and with the betweenness centrality in the 2-mode network (importance in social construction). Through an empirical study of global patents cited by A&HCI and SSCI journal papers, the first hypothesis is refuted, and the second hypothesis is validated, indicating that the current attitude of the humanities and social sciences toward technological inventions is not one of concern and critique, but rather one of dialogue and negotiation. Furthermore, the richer the dimensions of negotiation and mutual construction, the stronger the vitality of patents. Additionally, the more important the position of technological inventions in the social relational structure, the greater their vitality. It is suggested that the patent intelligence community pay attention to the phenomenon of patents being cited by humanities and social sciences papers. By measuring the "disciplinary richness" of the citing side and analyzing the structural characteristics of the two-mode citation network, the more comprehensive evaluation and foresight of patent vitality can be provided.
Keywords: Philosophy of Technology; Citation Analysis; Patent Metrics; Innovation Evaluation
Author Biographies: Rui Li, Ph.D., Professor, Ph.D. supervisor; primary research areas: scientometrics, information metrics, and evaluation; E-mail: li_rui@scu.edu.cn; Yang Gou, Ph.D. candidate; primary research areas: information analysis and metrics; E-mail: 2433074414@qq.com; Zhibo Zhuang, Ph.D. candidate; primary research areas: digital humanities and information metrics; E-mail: zhizhuan@iu.edu. Yu Gu (translator), Ph.D., currently at Yangzhou Vocational and Technical University. E-mail: 1187380473@qq.com.
This article is an English translation of the following Chinese article: Li, R., Gou, Y., & Zhuang, Z. (2025). The evaluation significance of patents cited by humanities and social sciences papers from the perspective of philosophy of technology. Journal of the China Society for Scientific and Technical Information, 44(8), 977–986. https://doi.org/10.3772/j.issn.1000-0135.2025.08.004
