Advanced Analysis of Organic Pollutants: Integrated Strategies for Soil, Water and Agri-Food Matrices
A Special Issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441) belonging to the section "Water and One Health".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 679
Editors
Interests: analytical extraction methodologies; toxic micropollutant occurrence in environmental substrates and food commodities; analytical chromatography and spectroscopy methods of chemical characterization; high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS); wastewater treatment technologies; environmental and human health risk assessment; fate of organic micropollutants; advanced oxidation processes (AOPs); identification of transformation products (TPs)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: analytical extraction methodologies; toxic micropollutants; high-resolution mass spectrometry–Orbitrap technology; targeted/non-targeted analysis and suspect screening workflows; wastewater treatment technologies; environmental substrates and food analysis; risk assessments; chemometrics; environmental outcomes; AOPs; transformation product (TP) identification; fate of organic micropollutants
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
We are pleased to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue of Water entitled "Soil, Water and Agri-Food Matrices—Integrated Analytical Strategies for Organic Pollutants". This Special Issue aims to bring together high-quality research and critical perspectives addressing the analytical challenges associated with the occurrence and fate of organic pollutants across interconnected environmental and agri-food compartments.
Organic pollutants in soil, water, and agri-food matrices remain a persistent challenge for environmental protection and food safety, intensified by agricultural inputs, industrial emissions, and wastewater-derived contamination. Within the soil–water–food nexus, contaminants such as pesticides, pharmaceuticals, PFAS, industrial chemicals, and their transformation products can be transferred between compartments, creating combined exposure scenarios that align with the One Health perspective.
This Special Issue focuses on advanced, fit-for-purpose analytical chemistry workflows that enable robust detection, confident identification, and accurate quantification of organic pollutants in complex matrices. We particularly welcome studies employing LC/GC coupled to HRMS (e.g., Orbitrap, QTOF) and integrated strategies combining targeted and non-targeted analysis or suspect screening, supported by transparent data-processing pipelines (feature extraction, spectral interpretation, libraries/in silico tools, confidence levels). Strong emphasis is placed on QA/QC, method validation, matrix effects management, and measurement uncertainty, ensuring comparability and regulatory relevance. Contributions on greener sample preparation, harmonized protocols, and interlaboratory performance are also encouraged. By focusing on advanced analytical chemistry approaches and harmonized workflows, this Special Issue aims to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue among environmental scientists, analytical chemists, and food safety experts, fostering robust and reproducible strategies that support monitoring, risk assessment, and regulatory decision-making. Topics include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Integrated soil–water–agri-food monitoring strategies (One Health, exposure pathways).
- Sampling design, representativeness, and spatiotemporal variability.
- Green and high-performance sample preparation (QuEChERS variants, SPE, microextraction, DES/NADES, etc.).
- LC–HRMS/GC–HRMS workflows: target, suspect, non-target screening.
- Transformation products, metabolites, and effect-directed analysis links.
- Data processing, chemometrics, identification confidence, and reporting standards.
- QA/QC plans, validation, matrix effects, and measurement uncertainty.
- Harmonization, interlaboratory comparisons, and decision-making for risk assessment/regulation.
Dr. Christina Nannou
Dr. Vasiliki Boti
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. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2600 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
- organic pollutants
- soil
- water qualty
- food safety
- high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS)
- target and non-target analysis
- suspect screening
- sample preparation
- quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC)
- One Health approach
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
