BIM applications in sustainable construction: scientometric and state-of-the-art review

The construction sector is notorious for being unsustainable and disintegrated industry while, it is crucial to provide a lens towards sustainable construction from the digital innovation and integration perspective. Although a considerable amount of research has been focused on how building information modeling (BIM) helps improve sustainable construction; there are still a limited number of studies that have investigated the BIM process in sustainability fields. This study aims to identify all common domains of BIM and sustainability applications and reveals the academic and practice gaps in the construction industry. Through employing the scientometric analysis method, a collective number of 188 journal articles were gathered and analyzed. The thematic analysis was then applied and five common domains of BIM and sustainability on lifecycle assessment, green buildings criteria, energy analysis, environmental assessments and design, construction and project management were eventually identified. The current study identifies the research confusion, neglect and application gaps across all five identified domains and provides researchers with a deep understanding of BIM in the sustainability and future directions for further research.