Collective Dynamics in the Awakening of Sleeping Beauty Patents: A BERTopic Approach

Prior research has emphasized individual patent characteristics in identifying the awakening of sleeping beauty patents (SBPs) that remain unnoticed for long periods before suddenly attracting substantial attention. However, less attention has been paid to how collective dynamics shape these awakenings. This study examines whether field-level topic patterns—observable manifestations of collective perceptions and choices—are associated with SBP awakenings. We derived two indicators from U.S. patent abstracts by using BERTopic: Jensen–Shannon Divergence (JSD), which reflects temporal shifts in topic distributions, and topic entropy, which captures the breadth of technological exploration across topics. The logistic regression results showed that JSD is negatively associated with SBP awakenings, whereas entropy is positively associated with them. These findings suggest that SBPs are more likely to reemerge when technological exploration spans a broader range of topics while the topic structure remains relatively stable. In this way, the study contributes by demonstrating how outputs of collective dynamics are linked to the delayed recognition of SBPs.