Identification of 4D-BIM Barriers in Offshore Construction Projects Using Fuzzy Structural Equation Modeling

Comments

Response

In introduction section motivation is not clear. Mention clearly.

# Last paragraph in the Introduction section

# Hence this study proposes a structural equation model to measure the overall obstacles to the construction of offshore works, considering the latent variables and the probability and impact of each barrier. To detect the main latent causes of barriers that needed to be solved to enhance BIM and 4D-BIM adoption and think of the proper strategies to be followed.

Methodology section is not written perfectly. Write in details about used method with proper citations.

# Modifications had been done to the Methodology section.

The data collection section is not clearly written. Write it in brief way.

# Modifications had been done to the data collection section.

The fuzzy number use or linguistic fuzzy number used in the paper? Readers may confuse.

# Modifications and adjustments had been made to the whole fuzzy set theory section.

Figure 4 is very tough to read.

# Modifications had been done to the Figure.

There should be graphical illustration with the computation.

# Modifications had been added.

Managerial insights should be written as separate subsection.

# Modifications had been added in section 13.

Numerical computation is not so strong, try to analysis with more data set, perform the sensitivity analysis.

# Modifications had been added in section 9.

Limitation section should be extended with few more lines

# Modifications had been done.

The grammatical error should be removed.

# Modifications had been done.

Comments

Response

The authors should streamline the Abstract section. Currently, it is very difficult to follow and it needs to be restructured. The abstract should be concise, and it should be focused on summarizing the study.

# Abstract has been updated and modifications were made to the idea flow in the text.

The authors should improve the Introduction and Literature Review section. Introduction section should focus on introducing the research objectives and research questions, while the Background section should focus on literature review of related work and defining the research gap. In addition, the authors should include more studies that are recent on this topic. The authors should discuss how the proposed method could be leveraged with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on the proposed method. The authors should cite and read study of Implementing Remote-Sensing Methodologies for Construction Research: An Unoccupied Airborne System Perspective. The authors should discuss the potential of integrating the proposed framework with UAS.

# Modifications had been done to the Introduction section.
# This study discusses the importance of BIM as a management tool and focuses on the 4D-BIM in project management as a scheduling tool, especially for offshore works.

# The proposed SEM model in the study will help to accurately identify the obstacles facing planners and project teams that prevent them from relying on BIM in project planning and scheduling, and make them prefer to use traditional methods in newly designed projects despite the disadvantages and the complexity of the newly designed project that includes numerous details. The study answers the question of why BIM was not used in planning offshore works before. The barriers estimation will help in possible thinking about the appropriate solution for each obstacle by knowing the most influential latent barrier and the appropriate measures that could be taken by project managers, governments, and company stakeholders to increase the popularity of using BIM and move forward to the next BIM level.

The authors should provide more discussion about the data used for this study. When were the data being collected? How were the data being collected? Who collected the data? This information should be provided to help other researchers who want to adopt the methodology for future research.

# The data provided and modifications have been done in the methodology section.

The fuzzy number use or linguistic fuzzy number used in the paper? Readers may confuse.

# Modifications and adjustments had been made to the whole fuzzy set theory section.

The authors need to provide detailed information about the structural modeling equation. The authors should provide more detailed discussion about software tools that were used to implement the equation.

# Modifications had been done in the structural equation modeling section.

More detailed information needs to be provided for the case study. The reviewer did not feel the case study is helpful for demonstrating the proposed methodology.

# The case study provides information about the chosen project and discusses what the project face due to using traditional techniques in planning and scheduling.

# The case study validated the model output as mentioned in the last part of the case study as the project teams pointed out in the meetings some barriers that were included in the model outputs as the main barriers to not adopting BIM in the project.

Almost all of the figures need to be improved. For example, the reviewer has to zoom in at least 150% to be able to read all figures. If at all possible, please create vector images to improve readability.

# Modifications had been done.

Moderate editing of English language

# Modifications had been done.

Comments

Response

This is a great topic and an interesting survey. There are grammatical issues throughout (check also for cumbersome words - tip: stick with the same terms from your references) and the literature is not disused against the findings and a clear statement of how this study contributes to the existing literature needs to be added.

# Modifications had been done and a Managerial insights section is added to explain how the study will contribute to the BIM field.

Abstract - first sentence's grammar is off. In the second sentence capitalise the word at the beginning of the sentence.

# Modifications had been done.

Introduction - clearly state the purpose of this study with clear aims and objectives. at the end provide a brief overview of the structure of the article.

# Modifications had been done to the Introduction section.

The findings of the survey need to be discussed with previous insights from the literature. Ideally, this should be addressed in terms of how this article advances the knowledge in this area and how this context sits with other studies. The case is not connected to different sections and if this is kept needs to link as well to the findings from the survey and literature review findings. At the moment there seems to be little difference between discussion and case studies this needs to be addressed.

# Modifications had been done.

# The article’s contribution is added Introduction section and Managerial Insights section.

# The survey findings are providing quantitative data to evaluate the barriers risk score from different perspectives using the probability and impact of each barrier, to be analyzed later using Fuzzy sets.

# The research adopted a hybrid methodology including a questionnaire survey, fuzzy set theory, and structural equation modeling to represent the relationships between the BIM barriers and evaluate their weights, the model’s latent dimensions were unique, but the latent variables were similar to the previous studies outputs with different weights as it focuses on a different type of construction (offshore Works).

# The case study and the discussion both include the same barriers, but the barriers in the case study are expressed as heard from the meetings with the project participants, which are similar to the model findings and mentioned in the discussion.

There are grammatical issues throughout (check also for cumbersome words - tip: stick with the same terms from your references)

# Modifications have been done

The authors should streamline the Abstract section. Currently, it is very difficult to follow and it needs to be restructured. The abstract should be concise, and it should be focused on summarizing the study.

# Abstract has been updated and modifications were made to the idea flow in the text.

The authors should improve the Introduction and Literature Review section.

Introduction section should focus on introducing the research objectives and research questions, while the Background section should focus on literature review of related work and defining the research gap.

In addition, the authors should include more studies that are recent on this topic. The authors should discuss how the proposed method could be leveraged with unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) on the proposed method. The authors should cite and read study of Implementing Remote-Sensing Methodologies for Construction Research: An Unoccupied Airborne System Perspective. The authors should discuss the potential of integrating the proposed framework with UAS.

# Modifications had been done to the Introduction and literature review sections.
# The research objectives had been modified and highlighted in the Introduction section from lines 74 to 86.

# The literature review section had been modified and the research gap was added and highlighted in the introduction section from lines 78 to 81 and also in the literature review section from lines 132 to 134.

# Studies concerning the UAS integration with BIM and the different types of remote sensing systems had been discussed and cited in the introduction section from lines 60 to 77.

# The UAS contributions to the 4D-BIM and project management are added in the discussion section from lines 383 to 391.

The authors should provide more discussion about the data used for this study. When were the data being collected? How were the data being collected? Who collected the data? This information should be provided to help other researchers who want to adopt the methodology for future research.

# The data provided and modifications have been done for the methodology section.

The fuzzy number use or linguistic fuzzy number used in the paper? Readers may confuse.

# Modifications and adjustments had been made to the whole fuzzy set theory section.

The authors need to provide detailed information about the structural modeling equation. The authors should provide more detailed discussion about software tools that were used to implement the equation.

# Modifications had been done in the structural equation modeling section.

More detailed information needs to be provided for the case study. The reviewer did not feel the case study is helpful for demonstrating the proposed methodology.

# The case study provides information about the chosen project and discusses what the project face during the execution phase due to using traditional techniques in planning and scheduling.

# The adopted case study for a maritime project validated the model output, but the barriers in the case study are expressed as heard from the meetings with the project participants, which are quite similar to the model findings and mentioned in the discussion.

Almost all of the figures need to be improved. For example, the reviewer has to zoom in at least 150% to be able to read all figures. If at all possible, please create vector images to improve readability.

# Modifications had been done.

Moderate editing of English language

# Modifications had been done.

The manuscript was proofread by Janet’s Proofreading Service