A Content Analysis of HIV-Related Stigmatizing Language in the Scientific Literature, From 2010-2020: Findings and Recommendations for Editorial Policy

ABSTRACT

Despite negative effects of HIV-related stigma on people with HIV, some scientific literature continues to use stigmatizing terms. Our study aimed to explore the use of HIV-related stigmatizing language in the scientific literature between 2010 and 2020 based on 2015 UNAIDS terminology guidelines. We searched for articles with the stigmatizing term “HIV/AIDS-infected” or any variations that were peer-reviewed, published between 2010 and 2020, and in English or with an English translation. Our search yielded 26,476 articles that used the stigmatizing term of interest. Frequencies on the variables of interest (journal, year, and country) were run. The use of these terms increased from 2010 to 2017 and decreased from 2018 to 2020. Most journals using the terms were HIV/AIDS specific or on infectious diseases, but the journal with the greatest frequency of use was on general science and medicine. Thirty-six percent of the articles emanated from the United States. To reduce the use of stigmatizing language in the HIV literature, action should be taken by authors, reviewers, editors,educators, and publishers should create formal policies promoting use of non-stigmatizing language.

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Conor Castleberry, Alex Gomez, Galilea Mayorga, and Dayanna Romero at Florida International University and Bianca Forsyth, Anne Gracy, and Kyle Hamilton at the University of Florida for their efforts in the literature review for this project.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Authors’ contributions

C.E.P. and E.V.R. conceptualized the paper, led team meetings, trained research assistants, created the codebook, coded the articles in the review, analyzed the data, aided in the creation of the framework, and wrote the manuscript; A.B.A. conceptualized the paper, created the framework, coded the articles in the review, and contributed to manuscript preparation; V.R. conceptualized the paper, coded the articles in the review, aided in the creation of the framework, and contributed to manuscript preparation; W.L. and L.C.C. coded the articles in the review and contributed to manuscript preparation; G.E.I. conceptualized the paper, aided in the creation of the framework, contributed to manuscript preparation, and fulfilled senior author duties on this project.

Ethical Declaration

No human subjects were involved in this research study. Data sharing is not applicable as no new data were generated in this study. The authors report no conflicts of interest or competing interests.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2023.2207289

Additional information

Funding

This study is funded by the Florida Department of Health [#CODRU]. C.E.P. is funded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [T32AA025877]. A.B.A. is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse [K01DA055521]. V.R. is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse [T32DA017629].