What is Radicalness (RA)?
Radicalness (RA) is an indicator that reflects the degree of novelty of a patent. It is based on the number and nature of backward citations, taking into account how frequently the cited patents are themselves cited.
How is Radicalness interpreted?
The RA (Radicalness) indicator is calculated by counting the number of patent citations a patent has to cite as prior art (backward citations) taking into account whether a cited patent has cited frequently itself (cited backward citations). Finally, counts are normalized by year, country of jurisdiction and main IPC/CPC.
| /High/ A high RA value indicates a high degree of novelty in a certain technological area. The patent was filed in a so called “white space” where very little prior art existed. |
| /Low/ A low RA value indicates a lower degree of novelty in a certain technological area. The patent was filed in a so called “patent thicket” where a dense web of patents already protected a certain technology. |
High Radicalness (RA)
A high RA value indicates that a patent builds on less-cited prior art.
- Reflects a high degree of novelty
- Suggests the invention was developed in a “white space” with relatively little existing prior art
Low Radicalness (RA)
A low RA value indicates that a patent builds on frequently cited prior art.
- Reflects a lower degree of novelty
- Suggests the invention was developed in a dense technological area (“patent thicket”) where many related patents already exist
How is Radicalness used in the platform?
Radicalness is one of the IPlytics patent valuation indicators and is calculated at the patent family level. When aggregated across patent families, it contributes to the overall characterization of innovation patterns within a portfolio in analytical views such as the Indicators tile.
Click here to learn more about indicators in IPlytics.