Global Research Trends on Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence and Immune Recovery in Human Immunodeficiency Virus: A Bibliometric and Science-mapping Analysis, 2022–2026

A BSTRACT Background: Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has transformed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) into a chronic, treatable condition, yet durable viral suppression and immune recovery continue to depend on adherence, retention in care, timely monitoring, and management of biological nonresponse. Objective: This study mapped global research trends on ART adherence and immune recovery in HIV from 2022 to April 2026. Methods: Bibliographic records were retrieved from Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus. The raw search produced 2451 records; after cross-database merging and duplicate/overlap removal, 1,536 records were analyzed. Bibliometrix/Biblioshiny outputs were integrated with additional source, author, country, institution, citation, and keyword visualizations. Results: The corpus included 1536 publications from 513 sources, 11,004 unique author name strings, 2,159 affiliation name strings, and 93 country-production entries. Total citations were 10,952, with a mean of 7.13 citations per record and a median of 2. Publication output was stable across complete years: 381 records in 2022, 312 in 2023, 309 in 2024 and 376 in 2025; 2026 was incomplete ( n = 158). The United States led corresponding-author output, followed by China, Ethiopia, Italy, South Africa, and Spain. Frontiers in Immunology and PLOS ONE were the most productive sources. Deeks S, Lewin S, Lichterfeld M, and Chomont N were leading author name strings. Six thematic streams were identified: ART adherence/viral suppression/regimens; CD4 recovery/immune activation/inflammation; HIV reservoirs/latency/cure; co-infections/comorbidities; care-continuum/social determinants; and long-acting ART/digital adherence technologies. Conclusion: The field is international and interdisciplinary, but future studies should better integrate behavioral adherence measurement with viral-suppression and immune-recovery endpoints, especially in high-burden settings.