Dr. Carlos Barata Appointed Section Editor-in-Chief of Section “Ecotoxicology” in Toxics

We are pleased to announce that Dr. Carlos Barata has been appointed as the Section Editor-in-Chief of the “Ecotoxicology Section” in the Toxics journal (ISSN: 2305-6304).

Self-introduction:
The main objective of my research activity is to solve different environmental problems, mainly in the field of water quality, through the development of bioassays and ecologically relevant and easy-to-apply biological monitoring methods, and the study of sources of variability in response to toxic stress. My line of research was framed in the field of ecological risk assessment, and more recently, I started researching the line of toxicogenomics from which I initiate the subline of neurotoxicity. For almost 30 years, I have been actively involved in the study of genetic variability in response to environmental pollution and its consequences for the evaluation of environmental risk, as well as in the determination of bioavailability pathways and pollutant effects. I trained as a Researcher at the Spanish Research Council, where I did my doctoral thesis, and as a post-doc at the University of Stirling (Scotland), the University of Coimbra and Aveiro (Portugal), and the ERISS (Environmental Research Institute of the Supervising Scientist) (Australia), after which I returned as a senior scientist to the Spanish Research Council. My research activity has contributed significantly to the development of ecological risk assessment, placing me at the forefront of the international community of experts in this field. I have been part of the advisory council of the European Society of Chemistry and Environmental Toxicology, being the chairman of the 25th annual congress of this society in Barcelona.

The following is a short Q&A with Dr. Carlos Barata, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the area and open access publishing:

1. Could you share your current research focus with us and what is exciting about it?
After years of investigating how to improve environmental risk assessment of toxic chemicals, we have now come back to a more mechanistic approach. Now I am focused on the use of video-based behavioral assays combined with toxicogenomic approaches to assess how neuroactive toxicants disrupt cognition in aquatic organisms such as Daphnia magna. The use of image-enriching methods allows us to screen toxic effects in a high-throughput manner. Furthermore, in the near future, the combination of imaging screening methods with AI will speed up our ability to simultaneously screen many toxic effects of many chemicals.

2. What do you think of the development status and trends of open access publishing?
It is very important to publish as open access to make research available to everyone including the general public.

3. What suggestions do you have for our Section’s development?
We are on the right track. I like the procedure of the peer-review process as only the science matters. We make decisions on a scientific basis and not on a fancy or trendy topic and potential media coverage. The recent introduction of a decision by two independent editors in the case of controversial recommendations ensures a high-quality peer-review process. We have to find and encourage young but also senior good scientists to become reviewers. The ecotoxicological Section’s success, as with other sections, depends on the review process. Also, ecotoxicology studies are growing exponentially and so scientific fragmentation and disparities in results are also increasing. This means that there is a need to promote good reviews on ecotoxicological methods, toxic mechanisms, and emerging trends. Finally, it is important to seriously consider AI. To me, AI has many advantages; for example, it can speed up the writing process of scientific papers and reviews. However, expert personal judgement is always necessary.

4. Can you provide any advice on academic research for young scholars in related fields?
In a changing world where peer-reviewed publications are growing exponentially and where research priorities change continuously, it is hard to filter important information and to be rigorous and creative in research. I encourage young scientists to find and read key studies in their field. Curiosity is still a major driver for scientific findings. Promising research studies must be funded and their hypotheses or queries tested using appropriate methods. To do this, it is important to conduct a thorough analysis of the state of the art, to identify research gaps, and finally to use and/or develop appropriate methods for addressing those gaps.

We warmly welcome Dr. Carlos Barata and wish him every success in the position. Further details regarding the Section Editor-in-Chief of the “Ecotoxicology” Section in Toxics can be found at the following link: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/toxics/sectioneditors/ecotoxicology.