A Comparative Review of Recent Research Progress in Prefabricated Buildings in China and Other Countries

Prefabricated building construction has emerged as a transformative technology in construction engineering and the building industries. However, owing to its research characteristics, the relevant literature on prefabricated buildings is diverse and fragmented. This study offers a comparative review of relevant 21st century literature on prefabricated buildings using VOSviewer1.6.18 software. The research progress and future opportunities about prefabricated buildings were comprehensively analyzed, which provides recommendations for its subsequent development. Through keyword searches on the Web of Science, 3214 documents were identified, and an overall analysis of co-citations and co-authorship was conducted. Additionally, a comparative co-occurrence analysis highlighted the differences between China and other countries. Further elaboration of research hotspots is provided, and three future research directions are proposed: (1) energy conservation and reducing the environmental impact of prefabricated buildings, (2) improving the performance of prefabricated building components, and (3) deepening the understanding of the behavior of prefabricated structures under seismic and dynamic conditions. This study provides practitioners and scholars in the field of construction engineering with a comprehensive overview of the literature on prefabricated buildings and paves the way for future advancements in the industry. The findings of this study can be used to promote prefabricated buildings in the architecture, engineering, and construction industries.