Partnering research within the construction industry (1990-2018): A scientometric review

This paper performs a scientometric review of the intellectual structure and evolutionary patterns of partnering research within construction industry (CI). Based on 788 bibliographic records retrieved from Scopus published in 1990-2018, CiteSpace is used to facilitate the scientometric analysis and visualisation of construction partnering research. The results show that: 1) the UK, the USA, and China are the primary origins of construction partnering research, and this domain typically arises from inter-organisation collaboration in business management; 2) research topics covered in the field concentrate on partnering application and performance, trust, partnering mechanism to strengthen performance, development of partnering model, critical success factors, reviews of the development of partnering research, and construction innovation promoted by partnering; 3) strategic partnering should be emphasised through supply chain integration in the CI. This paper provides an in-depth understanding of construction partnering research and inspires further inter-organisation collaboration within the CI.