Bibliometric analysis in the international context of the “Construction & Building Technology” category from the Web of Science database

• Characterize research activity in the field of “Construction & Building Technology” in the last 15 years.
• Study focus on “Construction & Building Technology” category from 1997 to 2011 from the Web of Science.
• Analyze all the articles and reviews through bibliometric analysis.
• Establish a ranking of leading countries and research centers in this field.
• Analyze the evolution of the most important research topics.

This study analyzes the evolution of publications in the category of “Construction & Building Technology”, the research activity carried out by countries and the most productive research institutions, and the internationalization and diffusion of the journals of this category. Reference levels have been designated for productivity indicators, diffusion, and impact, which must be taken into account for the evaluation of the merits of researchers and research institutions. Research trends within this category have also been identified, allowing us to identify current themes, as well as those that have ceased to arouse the interest of journals and researchers. The characterization of productivity and publication quality of each country makes it possible to compare the importance of each study in the construction sector to other countries. This may be useful for evaluation of the effectiveness of national policies and investment in this sector. The characterization of productivity and quality of the research institutions could prove to be highly useful in analyzing the effectiveness of the strategies being carried out by each center. Moreover, this will help researchers in selecting quality research institutions for collaboration and work. Journal analysis could be useful for editors when comparing their effectiveness of diffusion and internationalization to the work of other journals.