Research productivity and collaboration of the NIH-funded HIV vaccine trials network: A bibliometric analysis

The HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) is the world's largest publicly funded, multi-disciplinary international collaboration facilitating the development of vaccines to prevent HIV/AIDS and has conducted the vast majority of HIV/AIDS clinical trials since its inception in 1999. Although scientific findings from the program have been published in scholarly journals, the impact of a large scientific research network such as the HVTN on the HIV/AIDS vaccine field has not been assessed. This paper describes and elucidates the productivity, influence, and collaboration among HVTN researchers over the last two decades. Our analyses indicate that the HVTN has funded a large number of HIV/AIDS vaccine safety and efficacy clinical trials through a strong global network of clinical sites. In addition, several metrics indicate HVTN researchers also published original research articles that are influential in the HIV vaccine field. Scientific research collaboration is critically important in a complex and multidisciplinary field such as HIV vaccine development as it allows improved sharing of knowledge and expertise as well as the pooling of resources and data. We found that collaboration in the HIV vaccine field increased during this time period and collaboration among HVTN authors increased even more. Combining these productivity, influence, and collaboration metrics with research outcomes can provide a comprehensive assessment of large complex programs such as the HVTN.