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Topic · Epidemiology

HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk

HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk is a research topic within Epidemiology. Science Explorer counts 31k research works in it since 1955. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the global epidemiology of HIV among injection drug users, with an emphasis on harm reduction strategies, respondent-driven sampling methodology, and the impact of the risk environment on HIV transmission. The papers also address the effectiveness of needle exchange programs and other interventions for reducing HIV risk among people who inject drugs.

  • HIV
  • drug use
  • harm reduction
  • injection drug users
  • respondent-driven sampling
  • public health
  • risk environment
  • needle exchange programs
  • substance abuse
  • epidemiology
Research works
31k
fractional, since 1955
In the world top 10%
3.1k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-4%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
58% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk

This ranks research output and citation impact. It says nothing about the quality of diagnosis, treatment or care.

Which countries lead HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk research?

By volume, the United States and Canada publish the most (3k and 465 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 3k works
  2. 2 Canada 465 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 404 works
  4. 4 Australia 261 works
  5. 5 China 260 works
  6. 6 India 192 works
  7. 7 Brazil 155 works
  8. 8 France 153 works
  9. 9 South Africa 139 works
  10. 10 Spain 120 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 58.0%Canada: 9.1%United Kingdom: 7.9%Australia: 5.1%6 others listed: 19.9%58%largest
United States2,968 · 58.0%Canada465 · 9.1%United Kingdom404 · 7.9%Australia261 · 5.1%6 others listed1,018 · 19.9%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill publishes the most HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk research, followed by Johns Hopkins University and University of British Columbia.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of North Carolina at Chapel HillUnited States 144 works
  2. 2 Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 114 works
  3. 3 University of British ColumbiaCanada 69 works
  4. 4 United States Department of Health and Human ServicesUnited States 69 works
  5. 5 Harvard UniversityUnited States 67 works
  6. 6 University of TorontoCanada 56 works
  7. 7 University of WashingtonUnited States 53 works
  8. 8 UNSW SydneyAustralia 49 works
  9. 9 New York UniversityUnited States 49 works
  10. 10 University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 48 works

Who are the leading researchers in HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk?

The most-cited researchers publishing on HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk include Christopher J L Murray, Simon Iain Hay and Theo Vos.

  1. 1 Christopher J L Murray United States 583k citations
  2. 2 Simon Iain Hay United States 452k citations
  3. 3 Theo Vos United States 439k citations
  4. 4 Ali H. Mokdad United States 429k citations
  5. 5 Zulfiqar Ahmed Bhutta Pakistan 371k citations
  6. 6 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  7. 7 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  8. 8 Matthias Egger Switzerland 326k citations
  9. 9 John P. A. Ioannidis United States 317k citations
  10. 10 Elie A. Akl Canada 313k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk?

The most cited paper in HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk is "Snowball Sampling: Problems and Techniques of Chain Referral Sampling" (Patrick Biernacki, Dan Waldorf, 1981), with 5,509 citations. Next come "Purposive sampling: complex or simple? Research case examples" (3,688) and "Sampling in Interview-Based Qualitative Research: A Theoretical and Practical Guide" (3,268).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Snowball Sampling: Problems and Techniques of Chain Referral Sampling Patrick Biernacki, Dan Waldorf · Sociological Methods & Research Nov 1981 5,509
2 Purposive sampling: complex or simple? Research case examples Steve Campbell, Melanie D Greenwood, Sarah Jane Prior et al. · Journal of research in nursing Open access 18 Jun 2020 3,688
3 Sampling in Interview-Based Qualitative Research: A Theoretical and Practical Guide Oliver C. Robinson · Qualitative Research in Psychology 18 Nov 2013 3,268
4 Snowball Sampling: A Purposeful Method of Sampling in Qualitative Research Mahin Naderifar, Hamideh Goli, Fereshteh Ghaljaie · Strides in development of medical education Open access 30 Sep 2017 2,298
5 5. Sampling and Estimation in Hidden Populations Using Respondent-Driven Sampling Matthew Salganik, Douglas D. Heckathorn · Sociological Methodology 26 Nov 2004 1,998
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk research done?

The largest centres of HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk research in 2022-now are New York (United States), Chapel Hill (United States), London (United Kingdom) and Baltimore (United States). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Santa Monica, Kampala and Providence.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 New YorkUnited States 186 works
  2. 2 Chapel HillUnited States 144 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 143 works
  4. 4 BaltimoreUnited States 142 works
  5. 5 BostonUnited States 127 works
  6. 6 AtlantaUnited States 121 works
  7. 7 TorontoCanada 93 works
  8. 8 VancouverCanada 91 works
  9. 9 Washington D.C.United States 83 works
  10. 10 SeattleUnited States 78 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Santa MonicaUS · 21.6 works20×
  2. KampalaUG · 41.2 works13×
  3. ProvidenceUS · 56.3 works13×
  4. Chapel HillUS · 143.9 works12×
  5. BurnabyCA · 23.3 works11×
  6. VancouverCA · 90.9 works10×
  7. LexingtonUS · 32.8 works9.9×
  8. San FranciscoUS · 77.9 works8.8×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk than the world average.

See HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk on the map

Where is the best place to study HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk?

Among universities, judged by research, New York University, University of British Columbia and Johns Hopkins University score highest, combining citation excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 16.01%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of Califo…University of Britis…New York UniversityJohns Hopkins Univer…
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Citation excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1New York UniversityUnited States 65.515.6%7.2×49 +19.2%
2University of British ColumbiaCanada 65.417.1%9.6×69 -23.4%
3Johns Hopkins UniversityUnited States 63.412.2%12.4×114 -14.5%
4University of California, San FranciscoUnited States 61.618.0%11.3×48 -15.4%
5Harvard UniversityUnited States 60.714.4%3.5×67 -10.6%
6University of VictoriaCanada 60.424.8%11.1×15 -19.4%
7University of TorontoCanada 59.515.9%4.6×56 -2.4%
8University of WashingtonUnited States 59.412.4%7.8×53 +3.0%
9UNSW SydneyAustralia 58.314.3%9.1×49 -12.5%
10Columbia UniversityUnited States 58.015.4%7.2×47 -9.7%

Universities only. The score blends citation excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk, country by country

Is HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 4% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2020.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.027% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk0.027% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk10.0% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

Discussion

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