**1. Introduction**

Human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) is one of the leading causes of disability and mortality worldwide, with more than 76.1 infected people and 35.0 million deaths [1–3]. In 2017, there were

1.8 million people newly infected with HIV and Acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), 36.9 million people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), and 940,000 deaths related to life-threatening infections and cancers [4]. Hence, ensuring sufficient care and treatment, as well as treatment provision, has become a challenge for global public health systems.

Quality of life (QOL), as noted by the existing literature, has been described as an umbrella term for a variety of human needs, including the position in life, goals, standards, expectations, and concerns in the context of the culture and value systems. It manifests within patients as symptomatic, social functioning, and spirituality [5]. In terms of health promotion, health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is also considered as a priority health indicator. Since 1996, optimizing adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) has brought the chance to transform HIV—an incurable disease—into a chronic health condition [6], which in turn prolongs the life of PLWHA and improves their QOL [6]. In many settings, poor QOL is associated with a lower immune response, non-adherence, poor mental health, and greater disease severity [7–9]. Therefore, QOL attracted great attention from regulatory authorities and health providers as an important outcome to evaluate the effectiveness of HIV treatment [10–13]. People who were effectively treated with HAART, however, have been found to have a lower QOL compared with other long-term chronic illnesses [14]. Over time, the expansion of HAART coverage not only prolonged the life expectancy of PLWHA, but also boosted the innovation of new QOL instruments to adapt to the complexity of care. The previous literature has reported a high burden of comorbidities suffered by PLWHA, as well as adverse side impacts of long-term treatment on their health [15,16], while a complex combination of psychological and social factors which also influence their physical, mental and social conditions, directly and indirectly, affect their QOL [17–22]. On the other hand, in recent years, the availability of early HIV diagnosis, antiretroviral (ARV) treatments and enhanced healthcare services have been found to support the improvement in the QOL of PLWHA [23].

Thus, in order to improve the quality and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs, qualitative as well as quantitative analyses on the QOL of PLWHA are needed. In 2017, Cooper, et al. conducted a systematic review on the finding of existing reviews on QOL of the HIV/AIDS-infected population in various aspects, including the development, validation, and effectiveness of the most commonly used instruments [12]. Though informative, reviews of such kind suffer from the limitation of a narrow focus on specific questions or issues. In order to broaden the scope of research, a new approach is needed that has the ability to cover a large volume of global data on QOL in PWLHA research and allows for complex analysis to identify the research trend [12,18,24,25].

Our study adopts the scientometrics approach that gathers and analyze publications on a global level, coupled with more a technical analysis approach applied to the content of papers' title and abstract to identify emerging research topics as well as the current level of international collaboration in research on the QOL of PLWHA. This study aims to supplement the current literature while uncovering research gaps, suggest directions for future studies, and act as a reference point for priority settings and strategies initiating in HIV/AIDS management.
