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From Environment to Health: A One Health Landscape of Research on Selected Artificial Materials
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A bibliometric analysis mapped the research landscape on micro- and nanoplastics, bioplastics, plastic additives, and metal/metal oxide particles using a One Health lens, revealing that human, animal, and ecosystem health research remains fragmented across disciplines.
Background The risks for human, animal and ecosystem health associated with some artificial materials raise increasing concern, especially for particles at the micro- and nano-scale. This bibliometric study seeks to map the current research landscape focusing on Micro and Nanoplastics, Bioplastics, Plastic Additives, and Metals/Metal Oxides. We adopted the One Health approach to prioritize the corresponding literature, which entails considering multidisciplinary effects on the Environment, Food, and Health domains. Our work also supports the identification of service gaps and technological needs for investigations focusing on these research areas. Methods The selection of the articles to be analyzed was conducted through both manual-searches and a systematic approach using queries in the Web of Science TM Core Collection database. In the systematic approach, articles were initially selected based on publication year, followed by refinement using targeted keywords, boolean operators, and truncated terms. After assessing the relevance of the articles, a database with 813 entries was compiled. These articles were comprehensively classified to facilitate the subsequent analysis, according to parameters such as research domain, thematic focus, technologies, as well as the types and dimensions of the materials studied. Results We observed that whereas micro-scale research dominates the current literature, in the Health sector there is great attention on the possible hazards of nanoparticles. From a technological perspective, microscopy techniques are widely used across all the addressed scientific domains, whereas other approaches have a marginal utilization. We believe that the latter finding is due to the cost and difficulty of maintaining some high-end equipment. Conclusion This bibliometric analysis offers a comprehensive overview of current research on micro- and nano-scale material particles from a health perspective, highlighting thematic interconnections, methodological gaps, the critical need for standardized protocols and broader access to advanced technologies, which could be addressed through enhanced collaboration among Research Infrastructures.
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