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Emerging Contaminants in Environment

Guest Editors:
Qaisar Mahmood: University of Bahrain, Bahrain
Sunil Kumar:  Technology Development Centre, India
Paromita Chakraborty: SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission deadline: 31 October 2024


Environmental Systems Research is calling for submissions to our Collection on Emerging Contaminants in Environment.

Emerging contaminants (ECs) are synthetic or naturally occurring chemicals or any microorganisms that are not commonly monitored in the environment but have the potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected adverse ecological or human health effects. Various new synthetic chemicals are being added to the environment each year.

Image credit: Mystockimages / Getty Images / iStock


This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 15 and SDG 3.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Qaisar Mahmood: University of Bahrain, Bahrain

Qaisar Mahmood has over twenty-seven years of local and international academic and research experience in life sciences, environmental sciences and engineering in application of living process biochemistry for the environmental remediation of toxic metals, dyes, inorganic and organic pollutants. He has special experience in phytoremediation of toxic metals, dyes and anaerobic treatment of domestic and industrial wastewaters through processes like denitrification, Anammox and related biotechnologies. Qaisar has published >300 research articles with cumulative impact factor of >700 with >13230 citations (h-index = 62). He has won many awards in the field of his research.
 

Sunil Kumar: Technology Development Centre, India

Sunil Kumar is a Senior Researcher with more than 23 years of experience in leading, supervising and undertaking research in the broader field of Environmental Engineering and Science with focus on Solid and Hazardous Waste Management. His primary area of expertise is solid waste management (Municipal Solid Waste, Electronic waste etc.) over a wide range of environmental topics including contaminated sites, EIA and wastewater treatment. His contributions in these fields led to a citation of 15000, h-index of 62, and i10-index of 250 (Google scholar). Dr. Kumar was visiting Researcher at United Nations University Germany, Hongkong Baptist University Hong Kong and University of Calgary, Canada. He was awarded as Outstanding Scientist in 2011 and 2016 at CSIR-NEERI for his Scientific Excellence in the field of Research & Development in Solid Waste Management, and was also awarded with the most prestigious award Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Jean-Paul-Str.12 D-53173 Bonn, Germany as a Senior Researcher for developing a Global Network and Excellence for more advanced research and technology innovation. In 2022, Dr. Kumar was awarded Envirocare Green Awards. Dr. Kumar is also appointed as the Honorary Adjunct Senior Researcher at Tasmania University, Australia.

Paromita Chakraborty: SRM Institute of Science and Technology, India

Paromita Chakraborty is the Professor and Head of the Center for Research in Environment, Sustainability Advocacy and Climate Change (REACH) at SRM Institute of Science and Technology, Kattankulathur, Tamil Nadu, India. Her research domains include multimedia movement of legacy and emerging organic pollutants, their bioavailability and cost-effective remediation techniques. Prof. Chakraborty’s has 14 years of research experience and received research grant awarded by national and international funding agencies. She has a granted patent and published 84 peer-reviewed research articles, 17 book chapters. She has edited and published a book for Springer titled “Legacy and Emerging Contaminants in Water and Wastewater: Monitoring, Risk Assessment and Remediation Techniques”. Three books in Springer and Elsevier publishing that she is authoring/editing are in press. Prof. Chakraborty is an Associate Editor in Science of the Total Environment and the Arabian Journal of Geosciences. She is the proud recipient of prestigious honours including the prestigious WARI Fellowship 2016 by the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum & Hiyoshi Environmental Award 2020”. Prof. Chakraborty has successfully guided 5 PhD scholars and is currently mentoring 6  PhD scholars. Every year several MTech and BTech students pursue research in her Environmental Science and Technology Laboratory at SRMIST. Prof. Chakraborty has also served as the Association of Common Wealth Universities (ACU) mentor for the Blue Charter Fellowship and world-class research in innovation and Climate Change.
 


  1. Food waste is a major issue that affects the environment, the economy, and society at large. Food waste management has become a crucial concern in the context of Saudi Arabia, a nation undergoing fast economic...

    Authors: M. Amin Mir, Sook Keng Chang and Duaa Hefni
    Citation: Environmental Systems Research 2024 13:40
  2. Constantly eaten foods (such as fruits, vegetables, cereal, etc.) that contain excessive concentrations of heavy metals pose a major risk to human health and deplete the food supply. The amounts of heavy metal...

    Authors: Afrose Sultana Chamon, Md. Abrar Hasin Parash, Jannatul Islam Fahad, S. M. Nazmul Hassan, Santo Kabir Ahmed, Maesha Mushrat, Nafisha Islam, Taukir Hasan, Zarin Atiya and Md. Nadiruzzaman Mondol
    Citation: Environmental Systems Research 2024 13:27
  3. The conventional practice of using sewage treatment plant (STP) derived sludge as a fertilizer poses significant negative impacts on agroecosystems. Since sludge has diverse contaminants, including heavy metal...

    Authors: Mrinmoy Patra and Suresh Kumar Dubey
    Citation: Environmental Systems Research 2024 13:21
  4. Neonicotinoid insecticides (NNIs), as a new type of insecticide, are widely used in agriculture and daily life. Because of the low volatility of NNIs, few studies have evaluated them in atmospheric particulate...

    Authors: Hairong Du, Xiaoling Zhu, Yunying Yao and Wei Yao
    Citation: Environmental Systems Research 2024 13:18
  5. Microplastics have been noticed as widespread in an aquatic environment at the microscale. They have nonstop increased due to the increase in the production of synthetic plastics, population and poor waste man...

    Authors: Laxmi Kant Bhardwaj, Prangya Rath, Poornima Yadav and Urvashi Gupta
    Citation: Environmental Systems Research 2024 13:8

About the collection

Emerging contaminants of concern, including pharmaceuticals and personal care products, are increasingly being detected at low levels in surface water. There is concern that these compounds may impact aquatic life. It is essential for EPA to be able to evaluate the potential impact of CECs and PPCPs on aquatic life and have an approach for determining protective levels for aquatic organisms.

This topical collection will emphasize the breakthroughs in both fundamental and applied research, including but not limited to:

• Circulation of ECs in the biotic and Abiotic components of the environment.
• The effects of ECs on various biological systems.
• Life cycle assessment of ECs.
• Methods of remediation of ECs including physicochemical and biological methods.
• Modelling to predict the movement of ECs in various natural environments.
• Any other related aspect of ECs.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system. During the submission process, under the section additional information, you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Emerging Contaminants in Environment" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.