Collaboration is a cornerstone of digital transformation in the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector. Despite widespread adoption of building information modeling (BIM), a critical “human factor gap”—the disconnect between rapid technological advancement and organizational readiness—remains largely unaddressed. This study investigates the intellectual structure of BIM collaboration research. Adopting a mixed-methods review design, it conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 1595 journal articles indexed in Web of Science and Scopus, followed by a qualitative content analysis of 38 purposefully selected studies. Findings reveal a clear shift from process-oriented collaboration frameworks toward data-centric and cyber–physical systems, including digital twins, Artificial Intelligence, and blockchain-enabled environments. However, this evolution also highlights a notable asymmetry in BIM collaboration, with technology-driven dynamics substantially outweighing human and organizational considerations. This imbalance, conceptualized as a human factor gap in thematic development observed through the bibliometric analysis, points to a potential socio-technical misalignment, in which technological topics receive more scholarly attention than organizational and human factors. Rather than framing collaboration maturity as a purely technical challenge, the study emphasizes the need for advanced digital infrastructure, human-centered governance models, organizational readiness, and socio-technical competencies. It provides analytical insights for researchers and implications for policymakers and industry stakeholders, emphasizing the necessity of integrated approaches that address both the technological and human dimensions of BIM-enabled collaboration.
Kasul et al. (2026) studied this question.