Research mapping of waste glass application in asphalt pavement: A scientometric review and visualization

Abstract

Globally, the application of waste materials in the pavement industry has increased over the years. This is due to the paradigm shift to sustainability in the industry. Asphalt pavements' construction process constituent materials consumes a sizeable the world's conventional constituent material use, which increases cost and contributes to carbon emissions. This has encouraged researchers in the area to investigate alternative materials like waste glass in the asphalt pavement industry to improve performance and promote sustainability. However, despite many experimental studies showing the advantages of incorporating glass in asphalt pavement, the scope and development are still not well understood. Therefore, the need for a comprehensive review of the area knowledge and global trends is encouraged. Thus, in this review, a scientometric approach was adopted to analyse research articles indexed in Scopus from 2015 to 2025 for data gathering, and VOS viewer was employed to prepare a co-occurrence for mapping analysis and a visualization map based on the bibliographic data gathered. The results showed a progressive rise in research activity with literature focusing on asphalt binder modification, mixture performance, durability, and sustainability. China, Australia, India, the United States, Canada, and Iran were found to be the most productive countries in this field of study, and Construction & Building Materials, and Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering were found to be major publication sources. It can be concluded that the research topic is growing yearly and spreading worldwide, which will encourage the circular economy and sustainability in the pavement industry. This review promotes SDGs 9,11 and 12 by encouraging the repurposing the use of waste materials and sustainable innovation in asphalt pavement industry.