Research Guides: Lens Guide: How to Use Lens.org

Lens.org Access

The Lens is a free and open resource used to find, analyze, and manage patent and scholarly data. Anyone in the world can use Lens.org. Users may anonymously access and export all Lens data. Individual account registration is not required.

Lens.org
Search, analyze, manage, and map patents and scholarly research. See the Lens Research Guide for more help.

Lens.org Individual Account Registration
Registering for an individual free Lens.org account is optional. A registered account includes additional features, such as saved history, recurring queries, collection management, and exporting up to 50,000 records at a time. (Users without individual accounts may export up to 1,000 records at a time.) If you are affiliated with Syracuse University and you are registering for an individual account, use your syr.edu email address to register.

Lens.org Features and Search Strategies

This introductory video to the Lens covers several discovery tools and search strategies:

Additional tutorials and search tips are available on the Lens Support page. Tutorials for specific Lens.org tools are also linked in the description of each tool in Content and Search Tips for Specific Lens.org Tools.

Content and Search Tips for Specific Lens.org Tools

Lens.org Discovery and Analytics Tools

Lens.org includes several discovery and analytics tools.

Scholarly Works
Scholarly literature metadata with citation indexing. Visualize and analyze research outputs using filters like institution, publication type, and funding. View a full scholarly citation graph and create and share custom and preset dashboards showing your analyses. Search tips in Scholarly Works Knowledge Base, Scholarly Works Search Tutorial and Scholarly Works Structured Search Tutorial.
Patents
Collection of patent literature with citation indexing. Search patents with keywords and create advanced searches. Limit results using filters like classifications (CPC, ICPR, US) and jurisdiction. Create and share custom annotated dashboards showing analyses and visualizations. Search tips in Patents Knowledge Base and Patent Search Tutorial.
PatCite
Track, filter, sort, and link scholarly articles that are cited in patents and examine the citing patents. Discover new partners and collaborators, as well as how research is influencing inventions. Search tips in Patents Knowledge Base and PatCite Tutorial.
PatSeq
Search, analyze, and share the biological sequences disclosed in patent literature. The extracted gene sequences (DNA, RNA and protein sequences) are fully searchable and biological organisms are indexed to allow for searching by species.
PatSeq includes:
- PatSeq Data: Compare biological patent holdings and view sequence disclosures across jurisdictions over time
- PatSeq Explorer: Navigate and analyze patent-disclosed sequences mapped onto genomes and chromosomes
- PatSeq Analyzer: Compare patenting activity at the chromosomal locus or gene level
- PatSeq Finder: Input DNA or protein sequences to find matches
- PatSeq Text-Search: Search for patents that declare at least one sequence in their sequence listings section as derived from a specific species
Search tips in Biological Knowledge Base, PatSeq Data Tutorial, PatSeq Explorer Tutorial, PatSeq Analyzer Tutorial, PatSeqFinder Tutorial, and PatSeq Text-Search Tutorial.

Lens.org Management and Ranking Tools

Lens.org includes several management and ranking tools.

Collections
Monitor, analyze, and share a collection of works or a collection of patents dynamically or statically. A dynamic collection is linked to one or more saved queries and updated whenever new scholarly works/patents matching the queries are added to Lens. A static collection is not updated. Registering for an individual free Lens.org account is required to use Collections. If you are affiliated with Syracuse University, use your syr.edu email address to register. Tips on how to use Collections in Support and the Collections Tutorial.
In4M
Unique Lens.org metric ranking 200 global research institutions according to their influence on industry and innovation. Ranking methodology is based on scholarly works cited in patent literature and the value of the patents as perceived by the applicants. Search tips in Support and the Institutional Rankings Tutorial.

Lens APIs

Lens APIs provide access to Lens scholarly works and patent records, while options for bulk data downloads provide access to the genetic sequences in patents, as well as the corpus of scholarly works and patents.

There are two different API and bulk data plan types:

Institutional User API Plans (available by request to all Syracuse University users)
ITK API Plans (available by request to authorized Syracuse University faculty and staff)

For more information, visit Lens API and Bulk Data Access.

Lens.org Data Sources

Scholarly Works Data Sources

Lens.org Scholarly Works is built on ingested and de-duplicated data from four main sources:

CORE
CrossRef
Microsoft Academic
Note: Although Microsoft Academic retired in December 2021, Lens.org is maintaining its access to Microsoft Academic data.

PubMed

Scholarly Works also includes open access information from the following sources:

Scholarly Works is enhanced with links to the following:

ORCiD

Patent Data Sources

Lens.org Patents, PatCite, and PatSeq are built on data extracted from four main sources:

Collections and In4M Data Sources

Collections and In4M integrate data from many of the sources listed above. More information about data sources and methodology may be found on the Lens.org About page, as well as within each Lens.org tool.

These papers describe the Lens metadata strategy and In4M methodology:

Jefferson, O. A., Koellhofer, D., Warren, B., & Jefferson, R. (2019, November 25). The Lens MetaRecord and LensID: An open identifier system for aggregated metadata and versioning of knowledge artefacts. https://doi.org/10.31229/osf.io/t56yh

Jefferson,O. A., Jaffe, A., Ashton, D., Warren, B. Koellhofer, D., Dulleck, U., Ballagh, A., Moe, J., Dicuccio, M., Ward, K., Bilder, G., Dolby, K., & Jefferson, R.A. (2018, January 10). Mapping the global influence of published research on industry and innovation. Nature Biotechnology, 36, 31-39. https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt.4049

If you are interested in Lens APIs and bulk data access, visit Lens Institutional Toolkit, and reach out to the Libraries' Research Impact Team to inquire about access: riteam@syr.edu