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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Sci.
Sec. Water and Wastewater Management
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvs.2024.1474125
This article is part of the Research Topic Life in the "Plastisphere": Linking the Biodiversity of Microbial Communities to the Risk of Micro-(nano-)plastics and Related New Contaminants View all articles

Microplastic Research Trends in the Gulf Region from a Global Perspective

Provisionally accepted
Ahmad Shabib Ahmad Shabib 1Mir Amir Mohammad Reshadi Mir Amir Mohammad Reshadi 2*Munjed Maraqa Munjed Maraqa 1,3Fereidoun Rezanezhad Fereidoun Rezanezhad 2,4
  • 1 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
  • 2 Ecohydrology Research Group, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Canada
  • 3 National Water and Energy Center, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain P.O. Box 15551, United Arab Emirates, Al Ain, United Arab Emirates
  • 4 Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Canada

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    This study provides the first bibliometric analysis on the current state and emerging trends of microplastic (MP) pollution research globally and within the Gulf region. The analysis reveals a robust global research trajectory with an exponential increase in publications, particularly from 2015 onwards, contrasting sharply with the more modest but growing body of research focused on the Gulf region, which accounts for only about 1.1% of global outputs. This regional research gap is highlighted by the unique challenges in the Gulf region linked to its dense industrial activities and substantial waste production. This bibliometric analysis study also identifies leading countries and institutions, with China and Iran emerging as significant players in their respective scopes, globally and in the Gulf region, respectively. Despite the increasing number of studies, the Gulf region exhibits underrepresentation, suggesting the need for enhanced regional research to better integrate this area into the global discourse on MPs. Significant insights from the keyword analysis reveal spots of MP research have remained unexplored in the Gulf region. Trend topics analysis further illustrates an evolving focus from basic interactions of MPs with marine environments to more complex issues like environmental health and ecosystem impacts, suggesting a maturing field that increasingly addresses the broader implications of MP pollution. This study systematically explores the current state of MP research on both the global and in the Gulf region, while identifying specific topics of MP research for future studies on the topic at hand.

    Keywords: Microplastic, Gulf region, bibliometric analysis, Cluster analysis, Marine Pollution Previous studies indicate that China's significant contributions to global plastic pollution mitigation are

    Received: 01 Aug 2024; Accepted: 25 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Shabib, Reshadi, Maraqa and Rezanezhad. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Mir Amir Mohammad Reshadi, Ecohydrology Research Group, Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, N2L 3G1, Waterloo, Canada

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