Exploring the Global Research Trends of Supply Chain Management of Construction Projects Based on a Bibliometric Analysis: Current Status and Future Prospects

Abstract

With the increasing scale and complexity of construction projects, a considerably growing number of studies have focused on managing supply chain scientifically to improve performance. To explore this field in depth, this paper uses the Bibliometrix R encapsulation tool to conduct a bibliometric analysis and visually display key findings on construction project supply chain management from 1998 to 2021. By using a series of indexes in econometric analysis, this paper introduces an overview of construction project supply chain research. Further, the current situation, historical evolution, and development of this field are explored using the content analysis of keywords. The results suggest that: (1) the number of publications in the field of the supply chain management of construction projects has increased over time and entered a period of rapid growth after 2015. During this period, articles related to ‘sustainability’, ‘prefabricated housing’, ‘reverse logistics’, and ‘lean management’ were widely cited by scholars, but the most frequently cited was ‘partnership’. (2) The keywords in the field of construction project supply chain management can be divided into ‘simulation research’, ‘sustainable research’, ‘method research’, ‘cooperation and integration’, ‘whole life cycle,’ ‘trust and communication’, and so on. The keywords ‘Radio Frequency Identification’ (RFID), ‘waste management’, ‘case study’, and ‘social responsibility’ are the current research hotspots. (3) The theme development of construction project supply chain management can be divided into supply chain integration and management, supply chain process design and optimization, the application of advanced technology, and sustainable supply chain management. This paper summarizes the main discoveries and developments in construction project supply chain management.

Engineering and Design for Sustainable Construction: A Bibliometric Analysis of Current Status and Future Trends

“…This research employed a thorough bibliometric approach to investigate the area of sustainable design and construction. In this phase, we carried out the database search after determining the candidate keyword(s), choosing the best keywords, and selecting them [9].…”

“…This research used the standard bibliometric analysis process, which includes five steps: research design, data collection, data analysis, data visualization, and data interpretation [34]. Several R-based software (Version 4.2.3) packages are available for measuring document information [9]. Citan, for instance, may be used to determine several literature metrics like the h-index and l-index.…”

“…Database selection to collect high-quality data was the first step of this bibliometric analysis. This study used several previous bibliometric and systematic studies as references [9,[37][38][39][40][41]; however, the area of analysis was different, and it used Scopus for data collection. Scopus covers more than 7000 publishers and contains more than 87 million doc-uments, starting in 1788.…”

“…Data extraction and filtering were the next steps. This paper used the search strategy adopted by Le and Elmughrabi (2020) and Wen et al (2023) [9,43]. The following retrieval string was used in the retrieval: TS = 'sustainable design', 'sustainable construction', and 'sustainable engineering'.…”

“…Bibliometrix R encapsulation is a powerful and widely used tool for bibliometric analysis, providing researchers with a robust platform to comprehensively assess scholarly literature [9]. Using this encapsulation tool, we can review and analyze the vast corpus of journal articles on engineering and design for sustainable construction, ensuring a rigorous and data-driven approach to the research.…”