Abstract
ABSTRACT
Objectives
Infant respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) prevention has moved from selective palivizumab prophylaxis toward broader protection through long‐acting monoclonal antibodies and maternal vaccination. We examined how this research area evolved and whether original studies address evidence needed for implementation at scale.
Materials and Methods
We conducted a bibliometric analysis and evidence‐gap mapping study of Web of Science Core Collection records from 1998 to 2025. The bibliometric corpus included 2004 publications; 1581 original articles underwent relevance screening and targeted audit, yielding 1227 studies for evidence‐gap mapping. Analyses compared 1998−2022 with 2023−2025. A random sample of 150 articles was used to validate relevance screening.
Results
Publication output rose sharply after 2022, with 2023−2025 accounting for 35.0% of the bibliometric corpus. Earlier work centered on palivizumab, preterm infants, and hospitalization; recent studies increasingly addressed nirsevimab, maternal RSV vaccination, implementation, and vaccine candidates. Hospitalization outcomes, disease burden, monoclonal antibody strategies, and real‐world effectiveness were well represented, whereas coverage/uptake, acceptance, equity, safety monitoring, economic evaluation, applicability to low‐ and middle‐income countries, and coordination between maternal vaccination and infant monoclonal antibodies were less common. Validation showed 86.7% agreement (Cohen's kappa = 0.52).
Conclusions
The literature has shifted toward broad infant RSV protection, but implementation‐relevant evidence remains uneven. Comparative and program‐level research is needed to determine how maternal vaccination and infant monoclonal antibody strategies can be implemented and coordinated across health systems while minimizing missed opportunities for protection.