Scientometric analysis of BIM-based research in construction engineering and management

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to summarize the latest research of BIM adoption in construction engineering and management (CEM) and propose research directions for future scholarly work. During the recent decade, building information modeling (BIM) has gained increasing applications and research interest in the construction industry. Although there have been review-based studies that summarized BIM-based research in the overall architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) area, there is limited review that evaluates the current stage of BIM-based research specifically in the CEM sub-area. Design/methodology/approach CEM falls into the scope of AEC. It involves construction-related tasks, activities and processes (e.g. scheduling and cost estimates), issues (e.g. constructability), as well as human factors (e.g. collaboration). This study adopted a holistic literature review approach that incorporates bibliometric search and scientometric analysis. A total of 276 articles related to BIM applied in CEM were selected from Scopus as the literature sample for the scientometric analysis. Findings Some key CEM research areas (e.g. CEM pedagogy, integrated project delivery, lean and off-site construction) were identified and evaluated. Research trends in these areas were identified, and analyses were carried out with regard to how they could be integrated with BIM. For example, BIM, as a data repository for ACE facilities, has substantial potential to be integrated with a variety of other digital technologies, project delivery methods and innovative construction techniques throughout the whole process of CEM. Practical implications As BIM is one of the key technologies and digital platforms to improve the construction productivity and collaboration, it is important for industry practitioners to be updated of the latest movement and progress of the academic research. The industry, academics and governmental authorities should work with joint effort to fill the gap by first recognizing the current needs, limitations and trends of applying BIM in the construction industry. For example, it needs more understanding about how to address technical interoperability issues and how to introduce the integrated design and construction delivery approach for BIM implementation under the UK BIM Level 2/3 framework. Originality/value This study contributed to the body of knowledge in BIM by proposing a framework leading to research directions including the differences of BIM effects between design-bid-build and other fast-track project delivery methods; the integration of BIM with off-site construction; and BIM pedagogy in CEM. It also addressed the need to investigate the similarities and differences between academia and industry toward perceiving the movement of BIM in construction field work.

Digital Technologies in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry—A Bibliometric—Qualitative Literature Review of Research Activities

“…Various studies also support the use of author keywords for bibliometric analysis [ 53 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 ]. Most recent studies such as BIM for structural engineering [ 52 ], construction education [ 68 ], BIM-based research in construction engineering [ 69 ], mapping the knowledge domain of BIM [ 70 ] and integrating BIM with building performance [ 71 ] also had the recommendation to use this approach. Furthermore, identical terms such as BIM, Building information modeling, Building information modelling and information technologies, information technology, technology were merged as BIM and information technology, respectively.…”

Integration of BIM and Immersive Technologies for AEC: A Scientometric-SWOT Analysis and Critical Content Review

“…VOS-Viewer [167], Cite Space, the science of science tool, Bib Excel, and Gephi [173] are some of the common software's used to present scientometric analysis. The scientometric analysis is also used in review-based research for similar kinds of AEC topics, such as construction engineering and management [174], computer vision applications in construction [175], artificial intelligence in the construction industry [176], global BIM research [177], and interoperability issues in BIM [178].…”

“…Therefore, if two keywords are close, the connection between them is stronger. Keywords usually have clusters associated with them, which shows the close interdependencies and relatedness among them [174]. Keywords co-occurrence provides the mental map of research topics in the field and facilitates the researchers to identify the relation between those keywords.…”

Measuring Value-Added-Oriented Bim Climate in Construction Projects: Dimensions and Indicators

“…The socio-technical systems (STS) approach is used to describe the outputs of a work system by considering human, social, organizational, and technical factors (Jin et al, 2019). It assumes that the outputs depend on two interrelated and interacting subsystems: the technical system and the social system (Swuste et al, 2020;Winby & Mohrman, 2018).…”