Systematic review of 4D BIM benefits in construction projects

• Benefits of 4D BIM are consolidated and highlighted. • International publication trends show growing interest in the integration of 4D BIM in building and construction. • A conceptual map of the vital few benefits for 4D BIM is developed. The use of 4D Building Information Modeling (BIM) is expanding rapidly in the construction industry, offering significant potential to improve visualization, project planning, resource management, and error reduction. However, existing literature tends to address 4D BIM benefits in isolation, without providing a consolidated view to understand all of its vital benefits. This study conducted a systematic literature review (SLR) of 69 peer-reviewed articles to identify and categorize 57 distinct benefits of 4D BIM. These benefits were grouped into ten thematic taxonomies, including visualization and communication, scheduling and planning, construction progress monitoring, and others. A combination of citation frequency analysis and Pareto principles was used to identify the most influential (vital few) benefits within each category. The findings revealed that enhanced visualization (VCB1), improved communication and coordination between stakeholders (VCB2), enhanced construction scheduling (SPB1), and enhanced construction progress monitoring (CPMB1) were among the most frequently cited benefits. In contrast, benefits related to sustainability, legal and decision support, and technological integration remain underexplored. This review study contributes a structured benefits framework for 4D BIM and provides valuable insight for researchers, practitioners and policymakers to prioritize digital construction strategies. Future research can focus on exploration of the potential benefits of 4D BIM in the knowledge domains of sustainability and dispute resolution and investigate its role when integrated with modern construction technologies and methods, such as offsite construction and lean project delivery methods. These benefits can also be empirically investigated to obtain expert knowledge on their level of exploitation in the field.