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Cited by 134Microplastics and Plastic PollutionAcademic Publishing and Open AccessPublishing and Scholarly Communication

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 49 of the 49 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Proceed with caution: The need to raise the publication bar for microplastics research

Open access
Provencher, Jennifer F., Covernton, Garth A., Moore, Rhiannon C., Horn, Dorothy A., Conkle, Jeremy L., Lusher, Amy L.·2020·Science of The Total Environment
DOI 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141426
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Abstract

Plastic is a ubiquitous contaminant of the Anthropocene. The highly diverse nature of microplastic pollution means it is not a single contaminant, but a suite of chemicals that include a range of polymers, particle sizes, colors, morphologies, and associated contaminants. Microplastics research has rapidly expanded in recent years and has led to an overwhelming consideration in the peer-reviewed literature. While there have been multiple calls for standardization and harmonization of the research methods used to study microplastics in the environment, the complexities of this emerging field have led to an exploration of many methods and tools. While different research questions require different methods, making standardization often impractical, it remains import to harmonize the outputs of these various methodologies. We argue here that in addition to harmonized methods and quality assurance practices, journals, editors and reviewers must also be more proactive in ensuring that scientific papers have clear, repeatable methods, and contribute to a constructive and factual discourse on plastic pollution. This includes carefully considering the quality of the manuscript submissions and how they fit into the larger field of research. While comparability and reproducibility is critical in all fields, we argue that this is of utmost importance in microplastics research as policy around plastic pollution is being developed in real time alongside this evolving scientific field, necessitating the need for rigorous examination of the science being published.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141426

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Metadata

Authors
Provencher, J. F., Covernton, G. A., Moore, R. C., Horn, D. A., Conkle, J. L., & Lusher, A. L.
Affiliations
  • Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA)
  • University of Victoria (CA)
  • Simon Fraser University (CA)
  • Portland State University (US)
  • Texas A&M University – Corpus Christi (US)
  • Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NO)
Corresponding author
Provencher, Jennifer F.
ORCID
Venue
Science of The Total Environment
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-12
Volume
748
Pages
141426
ISSN
0048-9697 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.141426
OpenAlex
W3047917900
Cited by
133
References
49
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 28 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 3
FWCI
4.49
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • The Science of The Total Environment (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PDXScholar (Portland State University) (submittedVersion)
  • NORA - Norwegian Open Research Archives (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Pollution › Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
  • Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Academic Publishing and Open Access
  • Social Sciences › Library and Information Sciences › Publishing and Scholarly Communication
Keywords
microplastics, publication standards, peer review, reproducibility, method harmonization, quality assurance, plastic pollution, research methodology, science-policy interface, editorial practice

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