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Abstract
The evolution and impact of the published literature surrounding the transdisciplinary,
multifaceted topic of pharmaceuticals as contaminants in the environment is examined
for the first time in an historical context. The preponderance of literature cited
in this examination represents the earlier works. As an historical chronology, the
focus is on the emergence of key, specific aspects of the overall topic (often termed
PiE) in the published literature and on the most highly cited works. This examination
is not a conventional, technical review of the literature; as such, little attention
was devoted to the more recent literature. The many dimensions involved with PiE span
over 70years of published literature. Some articles began to appear in published works
in the 1940s and earlier, while others only began to receive attention in the 1990s
and later. Decades of early research on what at the time seemed to be disconnected
topics eventually coalesced in the mid-to-late 1990s around a number of interconnected
concerns and issues that now comprise PiE. Major objectives are to provide a new perspective
to the topic, to facilitate more efficient and effective review of the literature
by others, and to recognize the more significant, seminal contributions to the advancement
of PiE as a field of research. Some of the most highly cited articles in all of environmental
science now involve PiE. As of April 2015, a core group of 385 PiE articles had each
received at least 200 citations; one had received 5424 citations. But hundreds of
additional articles also played important roles in the evolution and advancement of
the field.