EVOLUTION IN THE INTELLECTUAL STRUCTURE OF BIM RESEARCH: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Timothy O Olawumi,Johnny K W Wong,Daniel W M Chan

doi:10.3846/13923730.2017.1374301

Abstract

Building Information Modelling (BIM) processes have continued to gain relevance in the Architectural, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry with more resources directed toward it. This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of 445 BIM articles to investigate and understand the pattern of BIM research which include defining BIM research categories, evaluating the project sectors that are influenced by BIM, and tracking the funding structure of BIM research. A network map that displays a visualization of the structure of BIM literature by research origin, funding structure and geographical scope was designed. None of the previous reviews of literature analyzed the BIM articles’ corpus to such level and depth. The findings revealed research categories such as construction and project management and BIM learning, adoption & practice as the core research areas in BIM and highlighted trending research themes in BIM research. Authors based in Asia and Europe received more research grants than their counterparts in other regions; likewise, two-third of the articles was authored by academics in the United States, Korea, and the United Kingdom. The study provides its readers with relevant research areas that require considerations, and the discussion of selected research areas provides an extensive understanding of salient BIM fields.

Highlights

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is currently receiving worldwide recognition in the AEC industry due to its ability to store and ease the use and reuse of project data across the project development phases; while preventing unnecessary replication of project or design tasks (Kovacic et al 2015; Kim et al 2013; Lee, Yu 2016; Sun, Wang 2015)
The research’s objectives were to investigate and evaluate the extant literature on BIM; and identify the trends, research impacts, research categories, BIM funding structure and other parameters of the research publications’ corpus through a bibliometric analysis of 445 BIM articles; which are of high impact factors from the Web of Science which Neto et al (2016) regarded as the “largest and most reliable source for academic publications”
The level and depth of the bibliometric analysis is considered as the prime distinction between this study and previous literature reviews on BIM literature; which allows academics, industry practitioners and readers to track the funding structure of BIM research, the research categories and the project sectors for which BIM has had the most impact; and have an overview of how BIM literature has evolved over the years

Summary

Introduction

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is currently receiving worldwide recognition in the AEC industry due to its ability to store and ease the use and reuse of project data across the project development phases; while preventing unnecessary replication of project or design tasks (Kovacic et al 2015; Kim et al 2013; Lee, Yu 2016; Sun, Wang 2015). It include articles on the development of BIM curriculum for university undergraduate students. Related works on BIM curriculum development including literature such as “course development and collaborative teaching” (see Ahn et al 2013; Becerik-Gerber, Kensek 2010; Becerik-Gerber et al 2012a; Kim 2012; Sacks, Barak 2010; Wang, Leite 2014; Wu, Issa 2014). It includes “evaluating BIM curriculum vis-à-vis industrial needs” (Aibinu, Venkatesh 2014; Solnosky et al 2014) and “in-class experimentation with BIM tools” (Lewis et al 2015; Nassar 2012) among many other related topics

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