Papers

20 results
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Article Tier 2

Plastic Waste Management: A Bibliometric Analysis (1992–2022)

This bibliometric study mapped 30 years of scientific publications on plastic waste management (1992–2022), finding rapid growth in research output with China as the dominant contributor. Plastic waste management and microplastics emerged as the most influential research keywords, reflecting growing global concern about plastic pollution and water contamination. While this is a research landscape overview rather than an experimental study, it provides useful context for understanding how the field has evolved and where knowledge gaps remain.

2023 Sustainability 11 citations
Article Tier 2

A Comparative Bibliometric Analysis on Plastic Waste Recycling

This bibliometric study maps ten years of global research on plastic waste recycling and circular economy using Scopus and Web of Science, identifying dominant themes, leading countries, and emerging directions. It is primarily a research-landscape analysis with minimal direct content on microplastic formation or health risks, making it only peripheral to microplastic science.

2023 International Journal of Sustainable Development and Planning 6 citations
Article Tier 2

Tracking the plastic footprint: a bibliometric mapping of microplastics research in Asia (2015–2025)

Researchers conducted a bibliometric analysis of 3,797 Scopus-indexed Asian microplastics publications from 2015 to 2025, mapping research output, key contributors, and intellectual foundations. They found exponential growth since 2019 with China, India, and Indonesia leading, and identified four core research clusters—environmental occurrence, toxicology, food chain contamination, and remediation—as the field's intellectual pillars in Asia.

2025 Waste Management Bulletin
Article Tier 2

How Important is the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Study of Plastic Waste? Use of Bibliometric Analysis to Reveal Research Positions and Future Directions

This paper is not about microplastics — it presents a bibliometric analysis of life cycle assessment (LCA) research on plastic waste from 2013 to 2022, mapping publication trends, leading countries, and key research themes.

2024 Jurnal Teknologi Lingkungan 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Research landscape of a global environmental challenge: Microplastics

This bibliometric analysis mapped global microplastic research output, finding a sharp increase in publications since 2006 and identifying China, the USA, and Germany as the most prolific contributors. The study distinguishes between primary microplastics (industrially produced) and secondary microplastics (formed by fragmentation) and contextualizes their global distribution.

2019 Water Research 108 citations
Article Tier 2

Riverine Plastic Pollution in Asia: Results from a Bibliometric Assessment

A bibliometric analysis of river plastic pollution research in Asia identified China, India, and Indonesia as the most active research nations, with the Yangtze, Mekong, and Ganges rivers receiving the most study. The analysis found growing research attention on microplastics and on river-to-ocean plastic transport pathways.

2022 Land 19 citations
Article Tier 2

The Issue of Microplastics (MPS) in Coastal Area Indonesia: Bibliometric Network Analysis

This bibliometric analysis reviews microplastic research published on Indonesian coastal areas between 2010 and 2022, identifying key research trends, hotspot locations, and gaps. Indonesia is one of the world's largest plastic polluters, and mapping the state of research helps direct future monitoring and policy efforts.

2023 European Journal of Theoretical and Applied Sciences
Article Tier 2

Plastic and sustainability: a bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer and CiteSpace

Researchers conducted a bibliometric analysis of 1,933 research articles on plastic and sustainability published between 1995 and 2022. The study found that China and the USA lead global research in this field, with circular economy, bioplastics, and sustainable development emerging as highly discussed topics, and COVID-19 becoming a prominent theme in 2021 due to its impact on plastic pollution.

2023 Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research 62 citations
Article Tier 2

Global microplastics pollution: a bibliometric analysis and review on research trends and hotspots in agroecosystems

Researchers conducted a bibliometric analysis of over 1,600 publications on microplastic pollution in agricultural ecosystems from 2012 to 2024, identifying China, the USA, Germany, and India as leading contributors. The analysis revealed emerging research hotspots including biochar remediation, biodegradable microplastics, and antibiotic resistance genes associated with plastic contamination. The study provides a comprehensive overview of how microplastics affect soil properties, microbial communities, and crop productivity, while identifying key knowledge gaps for future research.

2024 Environmental Geochemistry and Health 15 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessing the Environmental Impact of Plastic Pollution in Tourism: A Bibliometric Analysis

This review used bibliometric analysis to map research trends on the environmental impact of plastic pollution in tourism-dependent regions, identifying leading academic disciplines, influential authors, and key themes in the literature.

2025 CABI eBooks
Article Tier 2

Micro(nano)plastics as Emerging Pollutants in Global Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems: A Bibliometric Analysis

This bibliometric analysis mapped the global landscape of micro- and nanoplastic research in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems using data from major scientific databases. Researchers identified key research trends, leading countries, and the most active institutions contributing to the field. The study reveals that while research output has surged in recent years, significant knowledge gaps remain around nanoplastics and their long-term ecological effects.

2024 Environmental Forensics 5 citations
Article Tier 2

Global Plastic Waste Trade: An Analysis of Sources and Trends (1996-2024)

The global trade in plastic waste — where wealthy nations ship plastic scraps to poorer ones for processing — has shaped recycling systems worldwide, but its sustainability is deeply contested. This bibliometric review of 257 academic papers (1996–2024) maps the research landscape, finding that China's 2018 ban on importing foreign plastic waste was a dominant topic, and that the trade raises serious concerns about environmental harm and economic inequality in recipient countries. The study underscores that international plastic waste flows are not a straightforward solution to the plastic crisis and require much closer scrutiny.

2025 InTraders International Trade Academic Journal 1 citations
Article Tier 2

Management of plastic waste: A bibliometric mapping and analysis

A bibliometric analysis of plastic waste management research over five years identified key themes including recycling, biodegradable alternatives, and policy instruments, with rapidly growing attention to microplastics as a distinct subfield.

2021 Waste Management & Research The Journal for a Sustainable Circular Economy 78 citations
Article Tier 2

Research trends in Peruvian universities: proposal for a research agenda with a bibliometric approach

Researchers conducted a bibliometric analysis of scientific publications from 93 accredited Peruvian universities between 2008 and 2021. They found a significant increase in research output following a 2014 education law, with medicine, social sciences, and engineering being the most productive fields. While not specifically focused on microplastics, the study maps research trends in a developing country and proposes a future research agenda.

2024 Scientometrics 3 citations
Article Tier 2

Unveiling the nexus: A bibliometric analysis of nano plastic’s health impact

This bibliometric analysis mapped the global research landscape on nanoplastics and human health from 2015 to 2024. Researchers found a steady annual increase in publications, with China leading in both output and international collaboration. The study identifies growing scientific interest in understanding how nanoplastics, the smallest fragments of plastic pollution, may affect human health.

2025 Journal of Education and Health Promotion 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Bibliometric Profile of Global Microplastics Research from 2004 to 2019

A bibliometric analysis of microplastics research from 2004 to 2019 reveals exponential growth in publications, with four major research hotspots: analytical methods, environmental distribution, impacts on organisms, and interactions with other contaminants. China and Western Europe led in output, with growing international collaboration across the field.

2020 International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 57 citations
Article Tier 2

From nanoplastic to microplastic: A bibliometric analysis on the presence of plastic particles in the environment

Researchers performed a bibliometric analysis of 3,820 publications on nanoplastics and microplastics from Web of Science, finding substantial growth in publications since 2009 with the USA and China as top contributors, while identifying gaps in standardized methodology and definitions that complicate cross-study comparisons.

2020 Marine Pollution Bulletin 101 citations
Article Tier 2

Scientometric analysis and scientific trends on microplastics research

Researchers performed a scientometric analysis of microplastics research using 2,872 publications from the Web of Science database spanning 2004 to 2020. The bibliometric analysis mapped contributing countries, institutions, key authors, trending keywords, and future research directions in the field. The study found that microplastics research has grown rapidly, with increasing attention to environmental pollution across various ecosystems.

2022 Chemosphere 73 citations
Article Tier 2

A mixed method assessment of research productivity on microplastics in various compartments in the environment

This bibliometric study assessed global research productivity on microplastics across different environmental compartments, revealing literature growth trends, geographic distribution of research output, and identifying gaps in coverage across environmental media.

2023 International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology 13 citations
Systematic Review Tier 1

Plastic pollution induced by the COVID-19: Environmental challenges and outlook

Researchers used bibliometric analysis to map research on plastic pollution generated by the COVID-19 pandemic, finding that wealthier nations led early inquiry while developing countries followed, and revealing that pandemic-related plastics — from masks to medical waste — are creating cascading contamination from land to ocean to atmosphere.

2023 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 45 citations