Novel Research Isn’t ...

Novel Research Isn’t Necessarily Influential Research


Like publication records without citations, documentation of novel research discoveries and patents without evidence of their impact on others was generally ineffective. For example, the unsuccessful appeal by the research programmer in biometrics was hurt by the lack of evidence that the new ecological model estimation method he had developed had impacted the field. This, despite the fact that each expert witness praised the petitioner’s new method.



Similarly, the AAO found, in the appeal by the Ph.D. candidate in agricultural engineering, that patent applications were not compelling evidence of substantial past achievement because there was no indication that the patents had influenced the field. Instead, the AAO noted that the filing of, and even approval of, patent applications is anything but rare in the United States.