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Analysis of institutional authors

Aragon, AitorCorresponding AuthorAlberti, Marcos GarciaCorresponding Author

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August 28, 2025
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Article

Bridging Interoperability Gaps Between LCA and BIM: Analysis of Limitations for the Integration of EPD Data in IFC

Publicated to: Buildings. 15 (15): 2760- - 2025-08-05 15(15), DOI: 10.3390/buildings15152760

Authors:

Aragon, Aitor; Spudys, Paulius; Pupeikis, Darius; Nieto, Oscar; Alberti, Marcos Garcia
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Affiliations

Asociac Espanola Normalizac UNE, Madrid 28004, Spain - Author
Kaunas Univ Technol, Fac Civil Engn & Architecture, LT-44249 Kaunas, Lithuania - Author
Univ Politecn Madrid UPM, Dept Ingn Civil Construcc, ETSI Caminos Canales & Puertos, Madrid 28040, Spain - Author
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Abstract

The construction industry is a major consumer of raw materials and a significant contributor to environmental emissions. Life cycle assessment (LCA) using digital models is a valuable tool for conducting a science-based analysis to reduce these impacts. However, transferring data from environmental product declarations (EPDs) to BIM for the purpose of sustainability assessment requires significant resources for its interpretation and integration. This study is founded on a comprehensive review of the scientific literature and standards, an analysis of published digital EPDs, and a thorough evaluation of IFC (industry foundation classes), identifying twenty gaps for the automated incorporation of LCA data from construction products into BIM. The identified limitations were assessed using the digital model of a building pilot, applying simplifications to incorporate actual EPD data. This paper presents the identified barriers to the automated incorporation of digital EPDs into BIM, and proposes eleven concrete actions to improve IFC 4.3. While prior studies have analyzed the environmental data in IFC, this research is significant in two key areas. Firstly, it focuses on the direct machine interpretation of environmental information without human intervention. Secondly, it is intended to be directly applicable to a revision of the IFC standards.
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Keywords

AutomatizationBimEpdIfIfcLca

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Buildings due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency Scopus (SJR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position , thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Architecture. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

Independientemente del impacto esperado determinado por el canal de difusión, es importante destacar el impacto real observado de la propia aportación.

Según las diferentes agencias de indexación, el número de citas acumuladas por esta publicación hasta la fecha 2026-04-24:

  • Google Scholar: 4
  • WoS: 4
  • Scopus: 3
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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-24:

  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 31 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

    It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

    • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
    • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://oa.upm.es/95359/

    As a result of the publication of the work in the institutional repository, statistical usage data has been obtained that reflects its impact. In terms of dissemination, we can state that, as of

    • Views: 9
    • Downloads: 2
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    Leadership analysis of institutional authors

    This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Lithuania.

    There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (ARAGON BASABE, AITOR) and Last Author (GARCIA ALBERTI, MARCOS).

    the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been ARAGON BASABE, AITOR and GARCIA ALBERTI, MARCOS.

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    Awards linked to the item

    This research was partially funded by the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, as part of project CHRONICLE "Building Performance Digitalisation and Dynamic Logbooks for Future Value-Driven Services", grant agreement 101069722.
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