Lag Time Impact on the Knowledge Flow of Patents

Knowledge, as a crucial requirement of every society, can be produced and disseminated through various means such as patents. Dissemination of knowledge is formed in a process called knowledge flow which is influenced by various factors such as the lag time. It has been studied in this research. Using a citation analysis methodology, the present study tries to examine the lag time impact on the knowledge flow of Electrical and Electronic patents in the USPTO during 10.0-2886. the findings showed that the knowledge flow was influenced by lag time. This impact was higher among patents with over 3-years accreditation old. Moreover, the results showed that updating of patents can have a large impact on how knowledge flows.