A scientometric review of global BIM research: Analysis and visualization

In the recent years, building information modeling (BIM) has transformed the architecture, engineering, and construction industry, and attracted attentions from both researchers and practitioners. However, few studies have attempted to map the global research on BIM. This study conducts a scientometric review of global BIM research in 2005–2016, through co-author analysis, co-word analysis and co-citation analysis. A total of 614 bibliographic records from the Web of Science core collection database were analyzed. The results indicated that Charles M. Eastman received the most co-citations and that the most significant development in BIM research occurred primarily in the USA, South Korea and China. Additionally, BIM research has primarily focused on the subject categories of engineering, civil engineering and construction & building technology, and the keywords “visualization” and “industry foundation classes (IFC)” received citation bursts in the recent years. Furthermore, 10 co-citation clusters were identified, and the hot topics of BIM research were: mobile and cloud computing, laser scan, augmented reality, ontology, safety rule and code checking, semantic web technology, and automated generation. This study provides researchers and practitioners with an in-depth understanding of the status quo and trend of the BIM research in the world.Associated Grant:CQU New Staff Research Gran