Antimicrobial Resistance: Emerging Trends, Mechanisms, and Clinical Challenges

A Special Issue of Antibiotics (ISSN 2079-6382) belonging to the section "Mechanism and Evolution of Antibiotic Resistance".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 June 2027 | Viewed by 600

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Guest Editor
Department of Microbiology, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Interests: COVID-19; lab; medicine; microbiology; microbial resistance

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Guest Editor
Department of Microbiology, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Interests: microbiology; bacteriology; antimicrobial resistance phenotypes; COVID-19
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) remains a leading global public health priority, threatening the effective prevention and treatment of infectious diseases and undermining decades of progress in modern medicine. This Special Issue, ‘Antimicrobial Resistance: Emerging Trends, Mechanisms, and Clinical Challenges’, aims to provide an updated overview of the evolving AMR landscape. It welcomes contributions that explore current resistance trends, the molecular and genetic basis of resistance, and the growing clinical and epidemiological impact of difficult-to-treat infections.

Particular emphasis is placed on multidrug-resistant organisms, resistance dissemination through horizontal gene transfer, diagnostic and genomic advances, antimicrobial stewardship, and innovative therapeutic or preventive methods and strategies. By bringing together mechanistic, translational, and clinical perspectives, this Issue seeks to highlight both ongoing challenges and promising directions for improving the detection, management, and containment of AMR.

Topics of interest include the following:

  • Emerging resistance patterns in bacterial, fungal, viral, and parasitic pathogens;
  • Molecular mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance;
  • Multidrug resistance, extensively drug-resistant organisms, and pan-resistant strains;
  • Horizontal gene transfer and mobile genetic elements;
  • Biofilms;
  • Rapid diagnostics and genomic surveillance;
  • Antimicrobial stewardship and prescribing practices;
  • Infection prevention and control strategies;
  • Novel antimicrobials, adjuvant therapies, and alternative treatments;
  • Clinical outcomes and healthcare burden associated with AMR.

Dr. Dan Dumitru Vulcanescu
Dr. Iulia-Cristina Bagiu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antibiotics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • antimicrobial resistance
  • multidrug-resistant pathogens
  • resistance mechanisms
  • horizontal gene transfer
  • biofilms
  • genomic surveillance
  • antimicrobial stewardship
  • clinical microbiology
  • emerging pathogens
  • infection control

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

22 pages, 14122 KB  
Article
Mapping the Thematic Structure and Evolution of AmpC β-Lactamase Research: A Bibliometric Analysis
by Ahmet Doğukan Bayrak and Okan Derin
Antibiotics 2026, 15(8), 777; https://doi.org/10.3390/antibiotics15080777 - 13 Aug 2026
Viewed by 243
Abstract
Background: AmpC β-lactamases are complex resistance determinants due to inducible chromosomal expression, stable derepression, plasmid-mediated dissemination, potential for co-resistance, and diagnostic interpretation challenges. Nevertheless, the scientific production, citation structure, and thematic evolution of the AmpC β-lactamase literature have not been comprehensively mapped. This [...] Read more.
Background: AmpC β-lactamases are complex resistance determinants due to inducible chromosomal expression, stable derepression, plasmid-mediated dissemination, potential for co-resistance, and diagnostic interpretation challenges. Nevertheless, the scientific production, citation structure, and thematic evolution of the AmpC β-lactamase literature have not been comprehensively mapped. This study aimed to evaluate this literature using bibliometric methods. Methods: Original articles and reviews indexed in SCI-E and ESCI within the Web of Science Core Collection were evaluated when “AmpC” appeared in the title field. After an additional microbiological filter, 1183 documents published between 1980 and 2026 were included. Analyses were performed using R, bibliometrix, and Biblioshiny. Results: Scientific production increased from the 2000s onward. Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy and Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy were among the most productive and most locally cited sources, while the United States ranked first in publication output and total citation impact. The most frequent keywords were Escherichia coli, ESBL, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Enterobacterales. Conceptual analyses showed that the literature was structured around chromosomal AmpC biology, plasmid-mediated dissemination, resistance ecology intersecting with ESBLs, a cluster interpretable as a One Health axis, and clinical management themes. Trend topic analysis showed that multidrug resistance, carbapenemase, and virulence have become more visible in recent years. Conclusions: AmpC β-lactamase literature has broadened from an earlier emphasis on chromosomal resistance biology toward a multidimensional research field encompassing plasmid-mediated dissemination, resistance ecology, One Health-related themes, and clinical management. The recent prominence of concepts related to multidrug resistance phenotypes, the concurrent dissemination of resistance determinants, and pathogen virulence may suggest that the field is increasingly being addressed within a broader antimicrobial resistance context. Full article
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