Mapping the knowledge structure in megaproject management research using complex network analysis

Abstract

The megaprojects boomed in recent years, which have significant impacts on the economy, social issues, technology innovation, and environment. Therefore, specific knowledge is needed to support the management activities of megaproject management (MM). This paper aimed to explore and visualize the knowledge structure of the research domain in megaproject management using the keyword network analysis. By retrieving the journal papers relevant to megaproject management, the data of keyword and the relation between them are further extracted, and the keyword network is built up. Employed by the scientific knowledge structure of megaproject management has been measured by complex network analysis. The results showed that the topic network of mega engineering management served the features of high clustering coefficient and scale-free and total 40 topic communities existed in the topic network. Megaproject, project management, and construction management were general research fields whereas risk, complexity infrastructure, and scheduling were core research directions.