Evolution of building fire protection systems: a 54-year bibliometric approach

Purpose The increase in knowledge of fire protection in buildings from the time of the initial study amplifies the significance of systematic assessment in this domain. This was done to facilitate future research and offer a clear viewpoint to the individuals and organizations involved in the planning and management of this field. The objective of this study was to assess and examine the bibliometrics of prior investigations in the realm of fire protection in buildings and present a bibliometric analysis of the desired domain. Design/methodology/approach The bibliometric review methodology was employed to extract all scholarly literature pertaining to the domain of fire protection in architectural structures from 1971 to the inception of 2024, which were disseminated in the English language. Findings During the professional search operation, 2,558 documents were discovered in the literature pertaining to the target area were discovered in the literature. Subsequently, 1,187 documents were used for analysis. As a result, publication output has experienced a steady annual increase of 17.02% since 1971. However, it is noteworthy that the growth rate of research articles has exhibited a significant surge, reaching 45.15% between 2017 and 2023. The expansion of publications displayed a pronounced upturn after 2008. The literature pertaining to the examined area encompasses two research topics: the active and passive protection of buildings against fire. Consequently, the most crucial protection methods and gaps were identified and evaluated. Through functional goals and interactive relationships, the most influential authors, documents, journals, organizations and countries within the relevant field were ascertained. This comprehensive analysis also served to uncover and rectify the network patterns, gaps and future research trends. Research limitations/implications The present study has several limitations. First, the reviewed literature was retrieved from journals indexed in Scopus, which limited the scope to journal articles and reviews. Additionally, other databases, such as the Web of Science, could have been utilized. Furthermore, gray literature and publications in non-indexed journals have not been analyzed. Consequently, journals in non-English-speaking countries may have been under-represented. These implications are more pronounced in active countries, institutions and authors (Jakšić et al., 2023). Future studies could broaden the scope of this search to discover more relevant research and enrich the literature. Despite keyword identification based on quantitative content analysis, the data-mining approach in bibliographic analysis is considered to be limiting. Therefore, to enhance credibility and enrich the findings further, identifying the dimensions and themes of the subject area in a more in-depth manner based on hidden content analysis (MAXQDA) was deemed necessary, according to the gaps identified in the bibliographic analysis. Originality/value The analysis provides a comprehensive examination of the investigation associated with fire safeguarding techniques for structures, thus facilitating researchers, policymakers and engineers in disciplines linked to the construction sector to further comprehend the potential advantageous and disadvantageous outcomes. The proliferation of studies in this field is on the rise, particularly in the domain of passive fire protection measures for buildings, which has a meritorious impact.