Papers

61,005 results
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Article Tier 2

Microplastics in seawater: sampling strategies, laboratory methodologies, and identification techniques applied to port environment

A review of 74 global studies on microplastics in port environments was conducted as part of the EU Interreg SPlasH! project, synthesizing sampling strategies, laboratory methods, and results on abundance and distribution. The review highlights ports as significant hotspots for microplastic concentration and potential dispersal to the open sea.

2020 Environmental Science and Pollution Research 176 citations
Article Tier 2

Methods for sampling, processing, identification,and quantification of microplastics in the marine environment

This paper reviews and compares the various methods used to collect, process, identify, and quantify microplastics across different environmental samples. It highlights the lack of standardized protocols as a major obstacle to comparing results across studies and calls for methodological harmonization.

2020 Oceanography in Japan 12 citations
Article Tier 2

Methods for Studying Microplastic Pollution in Natural Waters: Current State and Recommendations

This methodological review addresses the lack of standardization in how scientists sample, process, and report microplastic contamination in natural waters, which makes it nearly impossible to compare results across studies. It details quality assurance and quality control steps — especially important given how easily tiny plastic particles contaminate samples from the lab environment itself — and provides concrete recommendations for sampling protocols and data reporting. Harmonizing these methods is a critical step toward building a reliable global database of microplastic pollution.

2024 Journal of Oceanological Research 2 citations
Article Tier 2

Correction: Ricciardi et al. Microplastics in the Aquatic Environment: Occurrence, Persistence, Analysis, and Human Exposure. Water 2021, 13, 973

This is a published correction notice for a previously published review article on microplastics in aquatic environments.

2023 Water 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Assessment of microplastic content in natural waters and sediments: sampling and sample preparation

Researchers reviewed and evaluated sampling and analytical methods for measuring microplastic content in natural waters and sediments, assessing sources of error and variability in current approaches. The review recommended a standardized protocol to improve cross-study comparability.

2024 Журнал аналитической химии
Article Tier 2

Correction: Corrigendum: The presence of microplastics in commercial salts from different countries

This brief notice is a correction to a previously published paper reporting microplastic contamination in commercial salts. The corrigendum addresses technical errors in the original study findings without changing the overall conclusion that microplastics are detectable in sea salt intended for human consumption.

2017 Scientific Reports 27 citations
Article Tier 2

Progress on microplastics pollution and its ecological effects in the coastal environment

This review systematically summarizes a decade of research on microplastic pollution and its ecological effects in coastal environments worldwide, identifying persistent technical challenges in sampling standardization, particle identification, and ecological impact assessment. Researchers highlight the need for unified methodologies to better understand the sources, fate, and biological consequences of coastal microplastic contamination.

2015 Chinese Science Bulletin (Chinese Version) 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in a Marine Environment: Review of Methods for Sampling, Processing, and Analyzing Microplastics in Water, Bottom Sediments, and Coastal Deposits

This review briefly describes the principal approaches, methods, and procedures for sampling and analysing microplastics in marine environments including water columns, bottom sediments, and coastal deposits. Researchers outline key considerations for each environmental matrix to support consistent and comparable microplastic monitoring.

2018 Oceanology 131 citations
Article Tier 2

A field and laboratory manual for sampling, processing and reporting microplastics in coastal and marine environments

This paper presents a comprehensive, standardized field and laboratory guideline for sampling, processing, and reporting microplastics in coastal and marine environments, developed through international collaboration. The harmonized protocols aim to improve comparability of data across global monitoring programmes.

2025 Frontiers in Marine Science 4 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in coastal urban sediments: Discrepancies in concentration and character revealed by different approaches to sample processing

Researchers compared two microplastic extraction methods on intertidal sediment samples from three coastal sites near Plymouth, England, finding that direct counting under a stereo microscope yielded higher concentrations (0.58-0.79 MPs/g) than the ZnCl2 flotation-filtration method (0.18-0.48 MPs/g), highlighting methodological discrepancies that complicate cross-study comparisons.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 13 citations
Article Tier 2

Author Correction: Microplastic pollution in seawater and marine organisms across the Tropical Eastern Pacific and Galápagos

Researchers published a correction to their study on microplastic pollution across the Tropical Eastern Pacific and Galápagos, clarifying that plastic fibres were the dominant form found and specifying the location with the highest concentration of microplastic particles was in international waters. Microplastic fibres are among the most pervasive forms of plastic pollution in ocean environments worldwide.

2022 Scientific Reports 14 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastics in seawater: a study of pretreatment, separation, and recovery.

Researchers developed and compared pretreatment, separation, and recovery methods for isolating microplastics from seawater samples, addressing the methodological diversity that limits comparability across marine monitoring studies. The study identified optimal combinations of techniques that improve microplastic recovery efficiency while minimizing contamination and sample loss.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Review Tier 2

Measures to prevent cross-contamination in the analysis of microplastics: A short literature review

A review of 115 marine microplastic studies from 2020 found that most researchers take some steps to prevent contamination of their samples, but few report how much contamination was actually avoided — with estimates ranging from under 1% to nearly 70% reduction. This methodological inconsistency means microplastic counts across studies may not be comparable, highlighting the urgent need for standardized sampling and lab protocols.

2023 Revista Internacional de Contaminación Ambiental 8 citations
Article Tier 2

Adaptation of a laboratory protocol to quantity microplastics contamination in estuarine waters

Researchers adapted the NOAA microplastic extraction protocol for use in estuarine water samples, which present challenges due to high salt content and organic matter. Having a validated standard method for estuaries is important for monitoring microplastic pollution in these ecologically critical transitional environments.

2019 MethodsX 30 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic and nanoplastic analysis methods, tests and reference materials

Researchers examined current microplastic analysis methods, reference tests, and reference materials, highlighting the limitations of manual counting approaches and evaluating alternatives to enable more scalable, consistent, and cost-effective monitoring of plastic litter accumulation in ocean environments.

2024 Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Article Tier 2

On the harmonization of methods for measuring the occurrence, fate and effects of microplastics

This editorial introduces a themed journal issue on microplastics methods and calls for harmonization of sampling, extraction, and analysis procedures across the field. Inconsistent methods are one of the main barriers to comparing results between studies and drawing firm conclusions about microplastic pollution levels.

2017 Analytical Methods 75 citations
Article Tier 2

Pollutions du milieu littoral par les microplastiques : Méthodes d’évaluation

This French review evaluated analytical methods for assessing microplastic pollution in coastal and marine environments, comparing different sampling, extraction, and characterization techniques. The review serves as a technical guide for researchers and monitoring programs seeking to measure microplastic contamination consistently and accurately.

2017 ZooKeys
Article Tier 2

Microplastics are overestimated due to poor quality control of reagents

This study demonstrated that inadequate quality control of chemical reagents used in microplastic analysis can introduce contamination that leads to systematic overestimation of microplastic concentrations in environmental samples, highlighting a critical methodological flaw in the field.

2023 Journal of Hazardous Materials 29 citations
Article Tier 2

Efficacy of Microplastic Separation Techniques on Seawater Samples: Testing Accuracy Using High-Density Polyethylene

Scientists tested four common methods for separating microplastics from seawater samples and found that each method recovered different amounts and types of particles. Standardizing separation methods is critical for making microplastic concentration data comparable across different studies.

2021 Biological Bulletin 23 citations
Article Tier 2

Comparative study of three sampling methods for microplastics analysis in seawater

Researchers compared three microplastic sampling methods for seawater — direct 0.45 µm filtration, 20 µm pre-concentration followed by 0.45 µm filtration, and Manta trawl with 150 µm mesh — finding orders-of-magnitude differences in reported abundance across methods, underscoring the critical need for standardized protocols.

2020 The Science of The Total Environment 111 citations
Article Tier 2

Corrigendum to ‘Comparison of two pump-based systems for sampling small microplastics (>10 μM) in coastal waters’ [Environmental Pollution 363-P2 (2024) 125192]

This corrigendum provides corrections to a previously published comparison study of two pump-based sampling systems for small microplastics (>10 µm) in coastal waters.

2024 Environmental Pollution
Article Tier 2

Coverage of microplastic data underreporting and progress toward standardization

This study synthesizes factors contributing to microplastic data underreporting, revealing that inconsistent extraction and analysis methods across studies lead to considerable underestimation of actual microplastic concentrations in the environment.

2022 The Science of The Total Environment 28 citations
Article Tier 2

Microplastic analysis—are we measuring the same? Results on the first global comparative study for microplastic analysis in a water sample

Researchers conducted the first international comparative study of analytical methods for microplastic analysis in a water sample and found that comparability between methods was highly limited, underscoring the urgent need for standardized protocols in microplastic research.

2019 Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry 112 citations
Article Tier 2

Solving the Nonalignment of Methods and Approaches Used in Microplastic Research to Consistently Characterize Risk

Researchers proposed and tested methods to rescale microplastic data collected using different sampling and analysis approaches, addressing the lack of standardization that hampers comparisons across studies. They developed correction factors to account for differences in particle size ranges, sampling volumes, and analytical techniques. The study provides practical tools for harmonizing microplastic research data, which could significantly improve global pollution assessments.

2020 Environmental Science & Technology 296 citations