Integration of Blockchain and Digital Twins in the Smart Built Environment Adopting Disruptive Technologies—A Systematic Review

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The article is of a review character. This type of research requires much work, and I am impressed after reading the text. It is written coherently and understandably. I congratulate the authors.

Table 2 is a certain illegibility. Try to elaborate it better graphically.

The drawings are well done but should be enlarged.

Section titles should contain full names, not abbreviations.

I like the discussion you have had. Conclusions were drawn correctly.

Author Response

Reviewer 1
The article is of a review character. This type of research requires much work, and I am impressed after reading the text. It is written coherently and understandably. I congratulate the authors.
- Thank you so much for your encouraging comment.
Table 2 is a certain illegibility. Try to elaborate it better graphically.
- This table just presents the search terms and their combination so that if the reader wants to retrieve the same documents, they can simply copy and paste them into the search field in the mentioned databases (Scopus and Web of Science). However, being split due to the page break may have caused some confusion. Now, the whole table is on one page which makes it more legible.
The drawings are well done but should be enlarged.
- We made them bigger with higher res. It is now easier to read them.
Section titles should contain full names, not abbreviations.
- They are now fixed.
I like the discussion you have had. Conclusions were drawn correctly.
- Thank you.

Reviewer 2 Report

This is very inclusive review paper focused on building sector. And the focuses were  implementation and integration of technologies. The work is limited with covering area but still very conclusive too for building sector. The researchers of this domain can be benefited much more in the micro domain of building sector and can take this as state of art paper.

Author Response

Reviewer 2
This is very inclusive review paper focused on building sector. And the focuses were implementation and integration of technologies. The work is limited with covering area but still very conclusive too for building sector. The researchers of this domain can be benefited much more in the micro domain of building sector and can take this as state of art paper.
- Thank you for your feedback. It will be considered in our upcoming research focusing on operation and maintenance for building facilities.

Reviewer 3 Report

The manuscript deals with a systematic review of the literature on technologies related to smart building environment. The scientific methodology is very well defined and the discussion is coherent. My suggestion to the authors is that they should give greater prominence to the findings obtained in the abstract and conclusions.

Author Response

Reviewer 3
The manuscript deals with a systematic review of the literature on technologies related to smart building environment. The scientific methodology is very well defined and the discussion is coherent. My suggestion to the authors is that they should give greater prominence to the findings obtained in the abstract and conclusions.
- Thank you for your feedback. A few sentences have now been added in the abstract and conclusion (highlighted in red) to further elaborate on the study findings.

Reviewer 4 Report

The article is very well written, a good systematic review is presented. And the body-like model of technological synergy is quite interesting.

Author Response

Reviewer 4
The article is very well written, a good systematic review is presented. And the body-like model of technological synergy is quite interesting.
- Thank you for your encouraging feedback.

Reviewer 5 Report

Integration of Blockchain and Digital Twins in the Smart Built Environment: Adoption of Disruptive Technologies

·         In Introduction section line numer 28 to 47 the content has been repeated; Hence, authors should check entire paper for the same type and modify.

·         Authors should include only papers related to the work.

·         Also, elaborate of novelty scope and justification in considering the future scope and solutions.

·         There are few papers need to trim out and include latest papers in order to find the research gaps.

·         In literature survey, authors should write research gaps of existing models.

·         Authors should refer some latest papers for the same and make proper table for state –art work.

·         https://search.ieice.org/bin/summary.php?id=e105-d_2_300

·         The contributions in the paper should be enhanced and presented clearly. Compared with existing works, what are the advantages of the methods significant works in this paper?

·         All figures need to make with high resolution and more appropriate

·          Motivation for the proposed scheme is not clear.

·         In the results section, graphs are not clear and need produce in more quality.

Author Response

Reviewer 5
In Introduction section line number 28 to 47 the content has been repeated; Hence, authors should check entire paper for the same type and modify.
- Yes, we noticed this right after submission and fixed it immediately. It had happened in the process of putting the text in the journal’s template
Authors should include only papers related to the work.
- Indeed, it has been the original intention. However, when a study is conducted in a multidisciplinary context within the smart built environment, alluding to different papers on various topics is sometimes inevitable.
Also, elaborate of novelty scope and justification in considering the future scope and solutions.
- A paragraph is now added to the conclusion section in this regard .
There are few papers need to trim out and include latest papers in order to find the research gaps.
- Now the references are updated. We have also included the paper you recommended below (ref 160 line 656).
In literature survey, authors should write research gaps of existing models.
- As it has been indicated in the manuscript, no model, discussing the integration of all these technologies (DT, IoT, AI, and Blockchain), was found in the existing literature. So, this study is the only exploratory research that considers their fusion.
Authors should refer some latest papers for the same and make proper table for state –art work. https://search.ieice.org/bin/summary.php?id=e105-d_2_300
- Thank you for your suggestion. We have now included this paper.
The contributions in the paper should be enhanced and presented clearly. Compared with existing works, what are the advantages of the methods significant works in this paper?
- As mentioned above, this study is the first exploratory survey on the fusion DT, IoT, AI, and Blockchain in the building industry. Moreover, in Figure 10, the challenges in technology and potential benefits of their fusion are highlighted.
All figures need to make with high resolution and more appropriate
- Yes. We have now improved the quality of the figures.
Motivation for the proposed scheme is not clear.
- This review is the preliminary stage of a research project. The potential applicability and the challenges in fusion of disruptive technologies are highlighted. The last sentence, at the end of the added paragraph in the conclusion section (highlighted in red), also explains the motivation clearly.
In the results section, graphs are not clear and need produce in more quality.
- Yes. They are now replaced with high-res graphs.

Round 2

Reviewer 5 Report

Accept in present form