Contract Management for BIM-based Projects: A Bibliometric Literature Review

Abstract

This review paper presents a quantitative analysis of the literature on contract management of Building Information Modeling (BIM)-based projects spanning the past 15 years. The paper primarily focuses on statistical analysis of publications to identify previous research emphases and future research trends. This review includes 107 papers, selected through a systematic search and screening process, and employs a systematic review with a bibliometric analysis, using Microsoft Excel and VOSviewer for data analysis. The findings reveal a significant increase in the number of publications in the last five years, coinciding with an accelerated adoption of BIM in the construction industry. Analysis of annual distribution of published papers, the papers with the highest impact, and keywords indicates that legal contract issues are a barrier to BIM adoption. Additionally, the findings revealed the existence of connection between construction contract management and agile project management practices and the lack of research on the development of synergic BIM-contract models. Directions for future research, as the main contribution of this review, indicate the need to analyze the BIM impact on contracts management holistically, develop standards and models for BIM-based project contracts, and promote integration of BIM-contracts with agile project management practices.