Abstract: The research on knowledge diffusion in the field of intellectual property is growing based on the current research techniques, but it is mostly focused on some of the subfields, such as patent documents and technology transfer. What is lacking in the literature is a comprehensive profile of the discipline. The paper uses bibliometric methods and visualization technologies to conduct a profiling analysis of Web of Science journal articles in the field of intellectual property from the three aspects of authorship network, geographical diffusion of collaboration, and subject cluster. Facilitated by visualization software and programming scripts, the paper presents the highly active scholars in the field through author co-citation analysis (ACA) and document co-citation analysis (DCA), the diffusion networks of collaboration through dynamic geographical graphs, and the five main clusters of disciplinary subjects, namely, Innovation, Judicature, Legislation, Information, and Market.

Keywords: data visualization, bibliometric study, knowledge diffusion, knowledge profiling, digital mapping, intellectual property