Systematic review on methodological characteristics in the study of intimate partner violence in men who have sex with men

Intimate partner violence is a phenomenon that generates serious public health problems and has been primarily studied in heterosexual relationships, meaning it has been studied less frequently in same-sex couples.Therefore, this systematic review synthesizes the methodological and ethical aspects of studies on violence in couples consisting of gay men and men who have sex with men (MSM), published in the last two decades in international journals. Following the PRISMA methodology, the Scopus, Clarivate, EBSCO, Science Direct, Scielo and LA Reference databases were searched and from a total of 292 studies located, 17 articles were identified as meeting the inclusion criteria through a process of debugging divided into four phases. Results showed that a quantitative approach, and non-experimental and cross section designs predominated, as well as the inclusion of nonprobabilistic and non-representative samples.Also, inconsistencies were found in the ethical aspects of psychological research and a lack of specialized instruments for same-sex couples. The results and methodological implications are discussed, prioritizing the urgency of future studies focused on the needs and characteristics of this population.