Scientometric Analysis for Cross-Laminated Timber in the Context of Construction 4.0

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) has been one of the principal materials in mass timber construction, and now it is possible to find mid-rise and high-rise projects around the globe. This study makes a scientometric review comparison between CLT and the impact of the fourth industrial revolution (formally known as Industry 4.0) in the construction industry, focusing on worldwide academic publications between 2006 and 2022. The analysis considers keywords, co-author, co-citation, and clustering analysis. This study used 1320 documents, including journals and conference proceedings from the Scopus database, where 753 were for cross-laminated timber and 567 for Industry 4.0. Key researchers, research institutions, journals, publications, citation patterns, and trends are some of the results obtained from the scientometric analysis. Once the knowledge mapping was conducted for both fields, scrutiny of the interconnection of both areas was performed to find possible research gaps from a manufacturing perspective. Among the conclusions, it is logical to say that Industry 4.0 implementation in cross-laminated timber is still in its infancy. One of the most popular technologies impacting construction is the digital twin concept; however, no work is reported for CLT on this topic. Additionally, digital automation is a necessity in any research practice, and the use of industrial robots is shown to be an essential asset for CLT as these robots can handle complex shapes.