Evolving priorities in malaria research in Indonesia (2015–2025): A scoping review and bibliometric analysis

<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Background</jats:title> <jats:p>Malaria remains a major public health challenge in Indonesia, with transmission concentrated in several eastern regions. A systematic overview of national research activity is needed to show how scientific priorities have changed and whether the evidence base is aligned with elimination needs.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Methodology/Principal findings</jats:title> <jats:p>We conducted a scoping review and bibliometric analysis of Scopus-indexed malaria publications from 2015 to 2025 following PRISMA-ScR guidance. Records were screened for an Indonesian institutional affiliation or an explicit Indonesia-specific study component. Publication trends, co-authorship, keyword networks, citation patterns, thematic evolution, and exploratory forecasts were analysed. Keyword text was represented using term frequency–inverse document frequency and grouped with K-means clustering. The initial candidate set contained 592 publications; four false-positive records were excluded, leaving 588 eligible Indonesia-related publications. Of these, 583 had an Indonesian affiliation identifiable in the exported Scopus metadata and 586 had usable keyword metadata for thematic analysis. Ten clusters were identified. Environmental and Community-Based Studies was the largest theme (110/586, 18.77%), followed by Plasmodium Species and Clinical Parasitology (85/586, 14.51%), Molecular Diagnostics (76/586, 12.97%), Treatment and Antimalarial Drugs (69/586, 11.77%), and Health Systems and Malaria Control Programs (67/586, 11.43%). Treatment-related research had the greatest total and mean citation impact. Publication output accumulated continuously without a clear plateau. Forecasts suggested the strongest continued growth in environmental and community-based research, while treatment and health-system themes were comparatively stable.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Conclusions/Significance</jats:title> <jats:p>Indonesian malaria research became more diverse while retaining strong clinical and treatment foundations. Future research planning should balance biomedical priorities with environmental, community, diagnostic, and implementation research. Forecasts are exploratory and should not be interpreted as precise predictions.</jats:p> </jats:sec> <jats:sec> <jats:title>Author summary</jats:title> <jats:p>Malaria remains a major health problem in parts of Indonesia, especially in eastern provinces. We examined how malaria research related to Indonesia changed between 2015 and 2025. We reviewed 588 eligible publications indexed in Scopus and used publication records, author links, keywords, citations, and annual trends to identify the main areas of research. We found that research output increased overall but varied considerably from year to year. Clinical studies of malaria parasites and antimalarial treatment remained important, while environmental and community-based research became the largest area. Molecular diagnostic and genetic studies also attracted substantial scientific attention. Research using artificial intelligence was present but still formed only a small part of the overall evidence base. Our exploratory forecasts suggest that environmental and community research may continue to grow most strongly, whereas treatment and health-system research may remain relatively stable. These findings show that malaria research related to Indonesia has become more diverse rather than reaching a stable or mature endpoint. We believe that future planning should maintain strong clinical and treatment research while giving greater attention to environmental conditions, community participation, diagnostic implementation, and health-system needs that directly support malaria elimination.</jats:p> </jats:sec>