3.2 Research topics of Marco Ricci

The topic of this research is about BIM and GIS based solution to be employed in the management of the built environment, with emphasis on renovation. A first search on the Scopus database is led using the following principal keywords, limiting the results to the subject area “Engineering” and “English” as language”:
(#1) TS = ”BIM”: 5˙177
(#2) TS = “digitalization”: 2˙083
(#3) TS = “construction”: 361˙901
(#4) TS = “management”: 569˙718
(#5) TS = “renovation”: 5˙138
Considering that “BIM” is the acronym for “building information modelling”, it is interesting to include in the search terms this extended version of (#1), but it also might be useful to include sources about “building information model/models”; therefore, we added to the previous keywords:
(#6) TS = “building information modelling”: 3˙188
(#7) TS = “building information model*”: 3˙771
In order not to miss some results, it is necessary to include in the research for the “BIM” topic both acronym and its extended definition:
(#8) [(TS = “bim”) OR (TS = “building information model*”)]: 5˙450
The same principles might be applied to (#2) and (#3), as we might get interested in digital tools/models/solutions/etc… or topics related to many “constructions”:
(#9) TS = “digital*”: 451˙842
(#10) TS = “construction*”: 364˙533
Also, we have to include “digitisation” to our query, whose significance slightly differs from “digitalization”, with a question mark in the 7th letter so to include both US and UK results:
(#11) TS = “digiti?ation*”: 4˙761
The topic (#5) presents relatively few results, therefore it is added a similar term to expand the research field, which is “refurbishment”:
(#12) TS = “refurbishment”: 3˙907
(#13) [(TS = “renovation”) OR (TS = “refurbishment”)]: 8˙810
The keywords (#4), (#9) and (#10) display an enormous set of results, so we start to combine the previous terms:
(#14) [(TS = ”bim”) OR (TS = “building information model*”) AND (TS = ”management”)]: 2˙161
(#15) [(TS = ”bim”) OR (TS = “building information model*”) AND (TS = ”management”) AND NOT “business”]: 2˙007
(#16) [(TS = ”bim”) OR (TS = “building information model*”) AND (TS = ”construction*”) AND (TS = “digital*”)]: 464
(#17) [(TS = ”bim”) OR (TS = “building information model*”) AND (TS = ”construction*”) AND (TS = ”management”)]: 1˙606
(#18) [(TS = ”bim”) OR (TS = “building information model*”) AND (TS = ”construction*”) AND (TS = ”management”) AND (TS = “digital*”)]: 233
(#19) [(TS = ”bim”) OR (TS = “building information model*”)] AND [(TS = ”digital*”) OR (TS = “digiti?ation”)] AND (TS = ”management”) AND [(TS = “renovation”) OR (TS = “refurbishment”)]: 10
(#20) [(TS = ”bim”) OR (TS = “building information model*”)] AND [(TS = ”digital*”) OR (TS = “digiti?ation”)] AND [(TS = “renovation”) OR (TS = “refurbishment”)]: 21
(#21) [(TS = ”bim”) OR (TS = “building information model*”)] AND [(TS = ”digital*”) OR (TS = “digiti?ation”)] AND (TS = ”construction*"): 474
A reasonable amount of sources with refined terms is found in query (#21), which is stressed on the digitalization and digitization of the construction sector using BIM-related methods.
Analyzing this set of results we can observe the top 5 journals, authors, institutions and affiliated keywords:
Journals
  1. Automation In Construction
  2. Procedia Engineering
  3. ENR Engineering News Record
  4. Isarc 2018 35th International Symposium On Automation And Robotics In Construction And International Aec Fm Hackathon The Future Of Building Things
  5. Journal Of Information Technology In Construction
Authors
  1. Cheng, J.C.P.
  2. König, M.
  3. Rezgui, Y.
  4. Jin, R.
  5. Lin, Y.C.
Institutions
  1. Technical University of Munich
  2. University of Reading
  3. University of Florida
  4. Georgia Institute of Technology
  5. Cardiff University
Affiliated keywords
  1. Architectural Design
  2. Building Information Model - BIM
  3. Information Theory
  4. Construction Industry
  5. BIM