A Study on Compulsory Licensing through Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract

This article is a study on Compulsory Licensing through the use of bibliometric analysis of 503 publications available in the Scopus database. It presents how Compulsory Licensing has gained importance over the years. It highlights the prominent authors in the field and the collaborations among them. It also shows the top institutions engaged in research in the field of compulsory licensing. This article lists the top publications and journals on the topic. The authors have also examined the trends in the topic and the major themes on which research is happening across the globe. A comparison has been drawn between the opinions of Indian Authors vis-à-vis the Authors from developed countries on the topic of Compulsory Licensing. It is observed from the publication database that the academic discourse on the topic took off from the year 2000 onwards, and there has been a sustained interest in the area. The top three countries that contribute to this discourse are the USA, India, and the UK. It is observed that, while India and other developing countries are in favour of a need-based compulsory licensing, developed countries, like the USA, UK, and Canada, are not in favour of compulsory licensing. Kingston W. is the most prominent author with the highest number of publications and citations. The Journal of Intellectual Property Rights has the highest number of publications. Publications on the topic are spread across institutions, and there is no single institution that stands out in terms of volume of contributions to publications.