Roots and development of intellectual property management research: A bibliometric review

• We conducted bibliometric analysis on 773 IPM papers published during 1980–2012.
• The trend and publication patterns of existing IPM research papers were reported.
• The intellectual core of IPM research was identified through citation analysis.
• The knowledge structure of IPM research was uncovered through co-citation analysis.

In recent years, intellectual property (IP) has become a crucial aspect in modern management practices, especially for innovative technology-based organizations. Correspondingly, growing numbers of studies are conducted each year to address various aspects of IP management (IPM). Nevertheless, the research field is still relatively fragmented and researchers lack a systematic understanding of the existing body of knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the underlying knowledge structure and the evolution of IPM research. To accomplish this goal, we analyzed 773 source articles published between 1980 and 2012 using bibliometric techniques including citation and co-citation analysis. We broadly searched for research articles that focused on IP management in the two largest academic databases (Web of Science and Scopus) and manually refined the search results. The results indicate that intellectual property management is a fast-growing research field with theoretical roots in law, economics, and management. Based on the citation data, we identified the most cited studies that form the intellectual core of IPM research. A co-citation diagram was plotted and five main research themes were uncovered. The center of the diagram is formed by studies on the role of IP in improving firms' appropriability. Surrounding the center are studies on the openness of IP strategy and the economic impact of the patent system; the former has become a heated topic over the recent decade, while the latter has lost popularity. Another two groups of studies emerged at the rear of the diagram, namely IP valuation and optimal IP licensing strategy. The article concludes by providing suggestions and implications for future research.