Bibliometric and systematic review maps trends in sex work research, highlighting stigma and policy implications.
Sex work remains widely constructed as deviant across legal, social, and policy contexts, yet related scholarship remains fragmented. This study maps contemporary research using a combined bibliometric and systematic review of 1,353 Scopus-indexed publications. Biblioshiny and VOSviewer were employed to analyse publication trends, collaboration networks, and thematic structures. Five major research clusters emerged: HIV prevention, criminalization and policy, COVID-19 vulnerabilities, stigma and rights, and occupational health. The findings reveal expanding interdisciplinary attention while highlighting persistent disciplinary biases in knowledge production. This study provides comprehensive bibliometric synthesis of sex work as a construct of deviance and identifies priorities for future research.
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S et al. (2026) studied this question.
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