A Scientometric analysis of construction value management research: a 25-year review

Abstract

This study presents a Scientometric analysis of construction Value Management (VM) research to map the intellectual structure, knowledge evolution, and emerging trends within the field. Despite the growing body of VM literature, a comprehensive understanding of its development, influential contributors, and research directions remains limited. To address this gap, CiteSpace was employed to analyse 400 publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection between 2001 and 2026. The analysis incorporated document, author, and country co-citation techniques to identify influential publications, collaboration patterns, knowledge clusters, and thematic evolution within the construction VM domain. The findings reveal a substantial increase in research activity over the past decade, indicating the growing importance of value-based approaches in construction management. The knowledge domain is characterised by strong research clusters centred on project performance improvement, value optimisation, and implementation-related studies, while developed countries continue to dominate research output and influence. The results further indicate an emerging shift towards sustainability-oriented VM, digital technologies, and data-driven decision-making approaches. By providing a comprehensive knowledge map of construction VM research, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of the field's intellectual foundations and development trajectory. The findings offer valuable insights for researchers and practitioners and establish a foundation for future investigations into value-based approaches in the construction industry.