While it's true that there needs to be some js involved, the analyst doesn't have to write it. You could use an R package (like https://rstudio.github.io/leafle

While it's true that there needs to be some js involved, the analyst doesn't have to write it. You could use an R package (like https://rstudio.github.io/leaflet/ https://rstudio.github.io/leaflet/) which wraps around an javascript library, so that you can stay within R.