Emerging Trends, Collaboration, and Impact of Global Scientific Production on Tuberculosis and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Coinfection: A Bibliometric Study

Abstract

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and tuberculosis (TB) coinfection represents a serious public health problem that requires new approaches for its prevention and comprehensive management. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the bibliometric profile of the worldwide scientific production on TB and HIV coinfection. Methods: Bibliometric study that retrieved publications indexed in Scopus, from the design of a search strategy based on Medical Subject Heading terms and logical operators. The sample consisted of 219 articles, whose metadata were analyzed with SciVal, VOSviewer, and RStudio. Results: Between 2017 and 2018, there was a notorious interest in the interrelationship between HIV and TB, as well as in the role of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the context of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The United States and South Africa clustered the most publications. On the other hand, the most productive authors have a US Institution affiliation, Brust James CM and Gandhi Neel R had seven publications. The categories of “Infectious Diseases” and “Microbiology (medical)” accumulated 94 and 35 publications. In addition, the most productive journals were PLOS One and the International Journal of TB and Lung Disease, while clinical infectious diseases had the best CiteScore 2021 (17.3). Conclusions: Scientific production has been mainly disseminated in high-impact journals, with a slight increase in recent years. The United States is the leading and most influential country, followed by South Africa; in addition, Brust James CM, an American National, is recognized as the most productive.