Science mapping approach based review of thermal comfort studies in Indian residential buildings

Abstract

Purpose Science mapping is an essential application of visualization technology widely used in safety, construction management and environmental science. The purpose of this study was to explore thermal comfort in residential buildings (TCinRB) research in India, identify research trends using a science mapping approach and provide a perspective for recommending future research in TCinRB. Design/methodology/approach This study used the VOSviewer tool to conduct a systematic analysis of the development trend in TCinRB studies in India based on Scopus Index articles published between 2001 and 2020. The annual numbers of articles, geographical locations of studies, major research organizations and authors, and the sources of journals on TCinRB were presented based on the analysis. Then, using co-authorship analysis, the collaborations among the major research groups were reported. Furthermore, research trends on TCinRB studies were visually explored using keyword co-occurrence analysis. The emerging research topics in the TCinRB research community were discovered by analyzing the authors’ keywords. Findings The findings revealed that studies had been discovered to pay more attention to north-east India, vernacular architecture, Hyderabad apartments and temperature performance in the past two decades. Thermal adaptation, composite climate, evaporative cooling and clothing insulation are emerging research areas in the TCinRB domain. The findings summarized mainstream research areas based on Indian climatic zones, addressed current TCinRB research gaps and suggested future research directions. Originality/value This review is particularly significant because it could help researchers understand the body of knowledge in TCinRB and opens the way for future research to fill an important research gap.

VR-based Safety Training Research in Construction

“…A literature search was conducted on the Scopus database to retrieve relevant documents for the review. Due to the broader coverage of studies, Scopus was chosen in this study [16]. Also, previous literature review studies [17,18] in the construction management domain used the Scopus database to collect documents.…”

“…Despite the growth of VR technology in construction for safety training, no review of studies on the development and execution of VR-based safety training methods in construction has been conducted till now up to the authors' knowledge. According to Chellappa and Srivastava [16], conducting a periodic review of existing studies in a particular domain can help to understand the state of research. Therefore, in this study, a review of the literature was conducted on VR-based safety training methods in construction using a Scopus database.…”