There is a trend that associates the academic sector with science and the industrial sector with technology. Science and technology differ substantially in their core activities because of their different end goals that motivate those activities.
Scientists publish to maximize their visibility and recognition in their respective scientific community. On the other hand, the goal of a technologist is to build or design an artifact or process for an owner.
In sum, science is an activity aimed at publication, while technology is a process that generally leads to the patent. Patents are seen as more notable indicators of technological achievement than academic achievement; Patents are also seen as measures of the knowledge base, or of the quality of the science and technology of an institution.
Criticism of patents in the field of scientometrics is based on the fact that the objects that can be measured in patent regulatory bodies differ from one country to another. For example, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), as part of the Ministry of Commerce, “promotes the industrial and technological progress of the nation and strengthens the country's economy, thus how it supports inventors 'and businesses' interest in their inventions and corporate products, and their identifications. ” In Peru, the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), “promotes in the Peruvian economy a culture of fair and honest competition and to protect all forms of intellectual property:from distinctive signs and copyrights to patents and biotechnology ”. In the United States (USPTO) the measurable object is industrial and technological progress, while in Peru (INDECOPI) the measurable object is the culture of competition.
If the measurement of the object is quantitative, then it should be considered indicators of industrial progress and the culture of competition, according to the promoting function of both USPTO and INDECOPI institutions, respectively. This fact is highly complicated and may have some subjective bias, in the sense of pretending to only evaluate science and technology subsuming to measurement. Now, the situation is further complicated if we transfer the purpose of these regulations from the aforementioned countries towards the protection of patents, on the one hand what is intended to be measured and, on the other hand, how to apply scientometry. In this context, if it is only intended to measure the state of science to support or regulate the results of scientific research (papyrometric or bibliophile),then it will be very difficult to base these results as a patent; despite wanting to keep intellectual property intact due to traceability. However, patents as a result of technological research (mostly origami) are more sustainable, since the object expressed as a result is a specific artifact or process, which is easily evident.
In conclusion, scientometry will be useful if the agencies responsible for the promotion and protection of intellectual property have clarity and security in the measurements. Now, educational institutions and companies or organizations producing science and technology can join forces to order intellectual production and innovation. Consequently, researchers, inventors and innovators will have the support of their respective organizations and increase the field of science, through scientific knowledge, or to produce well-being in humans and towards nature, through technological research.
References
United States of America Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI) http://www.indecopi.gob.pe/. Accessed on 09-27-07.
