Pre-exposure Prophylaxis in HIV Research: A Latent Dirichlet Allocation Analysis (GAPRESEARCH)

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Infectious Disease Prevention
• Bibliometrics

Background:

• Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a proven strategy for preventing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections.
• Challenges in PrEP implementation and service delivery persist globally.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a global bibliometric analysis of HIV prevention research focusing on PrEP.
• To identify current research trends, knowledge gaps, and provide recommendations for future studies.

Main Methods:

• Bibliometric analysis of 4852 papers from 1990-2017 via Web of Science.
• Exploratory factor analysis and Latent Dirichlet allocation for topic modeling and relationship determination.

Main Results:

• Significant increase in the number and impact of HIV PrEP research papers.
• Key research domains include preventing sexual transmission, improving access, and healthcare for specific populations (MSM, pregnant women, children).
• Identified knowledge gaps in research concerning sex workers, PrEP side effects, and social stigma associated with PrEP users.

Conclusions:

• Despite research growth, barriers to scaling up PrEP implementation remain.
• International collaboration is needed to investigate PrEP safety concerns and combat social misjudgment.
• Addressing identified knowledge gaps is crucial for effective global PrEP implementation strategies.