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Analysis of institutional authors

González-Pleiter MCorresponding AuthorTamayo-Belda MAuthorPulido-Reyes GAuthorLeganes FAuthorFernandez-Pinas FAuthor

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Secondary nanoplastics released from a biodegradable microplastic severely impact freshwater environments

Publicated to:Environmental Science-Nano. 6 (5): 1382-1392 - 2019-05-01 6(5), DOI: 10.1039/c8en01427b

Authors: Gonzalez-Pleiter, Miguel; Tamayo-Belda, Miguel; Pulido-Reyes, Gerardo; Amariei, Georgiana; Leganes, Francisco; Rosal, Roberto; Fernandez-Pinas, Francisca

Affiliations

Univ Alcala, Dept Chem Engn, E-28871 Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Dept Biol, Fac Sci, E-28049 Madrid, Spain - Author
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid - Author
Universidad de Alcalá - Author

Abstract

© 2019 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Over the last five decades, plastics production has increased as a consequence of their use in strategic sectors causing damage on aquatic ecosystems. In this context, biodegradable plastics have emerged as an ecological alternative because they are easily degradable in the environment. Despite the recent advances in the field of plastic ecotoxicology, the ecological impact of secondary nanoplastics (nanoplastics resulting from natural degradation of micro and macro plastics) in the environment remains poorly understood. Here, we have investigated the effects of secondary nanoplastics of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), a biodegradable plastic, on three representative organisms of aquatic ecosystems. Secondary PHB-nanoplastics were produced from PHB-microplastics by abiotic degradation under environmentally representative conditions. Secondary PHB-nanoplastics induced a significant decrease in cellular growth and altered relevant physiological parameters in all organisms. We investigated whether the observed toxicity was exerted by PHB-nanoplastics themselves or by other abiotic degradation products released from PHB-microplastics. An experiment was run in which PHB-nanoplastics were removed by ultrafiltration; the resulting supernatant was not toxic to the organisms, ruling out the presence of toxic chemicals in the PHB-microplastics. In addition, we have performed a complete physicochemical characterization confirming the presence of secondary PHB-nanoplastics in the 75-200 nm range. All results put together indicated that secondary PHB-nanoplastics released as a consequence of abiotic degradation of PHB-microplastics were harmful for the tested organisms, suggesting that biodegradable plastic does not mean safe for the environment in the case of PHB.

Keywords

CytotoxicityDaphnia-magnaDegradationLarval developmentNanoparticlesOxidative stressToxicity

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal Environmental Science-Nano due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2019, it was in position 16/265, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Environmental Sciences. Notably, the journal is positioned above the 90th percentile.

This publication has been distinguished as a “Highly Cited Paper” by the agencies WoS (ESI, Clarivate) and ESI (Clarivate), meaning that it ranks within the top 1% of the most cited articles in its thematic field during the year of its publication. In terms of the observed impact of the contribution, this work is considered one of the most influential worldwide, as it is recognized as highly cited. (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)

And this is evidenced by the extremely high normalized impacts through some of the main indicators of this type, which, although dynamic over time and dependent on the set of average global citations at the time of calculation, already indicate that they are well above the average in different agencies:

  • Normalization of citations relative to the expected citation rate (ESI) by the Clarivate agency: 11.09 (source consulted: ESI Nov 14, 2024)
  • Weighted Average of Normalized Impact by the Scopus agency: 19.01 (source consulted: FECYT Feb 2024)
  • Field Citation Ratio (FCR) from Dimensions: 28.62 (source consulted: Dimensions Jun 2025)

Specifically, and according to different indexing agencies, this work has accumulated citations as of 2025-06-27, the following number of citations:

  • WoS: 242
  • Scopus: 308

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-27:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 500.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 498 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 36.93.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 7 (Altmetric).
  • The number of mentions in news outlets: 3 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
  • Assignment of a Handle/URN as an identifier within the deposit in the Institutional Repository: https://repositorio.uam.es/handle/10486/705869

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: First Author (GONZALEZ PLEITER, MIGUEL) and Last Author (FERNANDEZ PIÑAS, FRANCISCA).

the author responsible for correspondence tasks has been GONZALEZ PLEITER, MIGUEL.