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Call for papers - Environmental factors and digestive health

Guest Editors

Shah Mohammad Fahim, MBBS, Nutrition Research Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh
Vishal Midya, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA

Submission Status: Open   |   Submission Deadline: 17 February 2025

BMC Gastroenterology is calling for submissions to our Collection on Environmental factors and digestive health. We encourage researchers to contribute papers exploring the intersection of these topics, including the impact of environmental factors on the gut microbiome, the effects of climate change on gastrointestinal diseases, water and air quality's influence on digestive health, occupational exposures, geographical disparities in gastrointestinal disease burden, the role of lifestyle choices and nutrition in shaping gastrointestinal well-being, and the effects of toxins and pesticides on the digestive system. 


New Content ItemThis Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being.

Meet the Guest Editors

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Shah Mohammad Fahim, MBBS, Nutrition Research Division, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh

Shah Mohammad Fahim is a physician by training with expertise and experience in nutrition, epidemiology, and infectious diseases. He obtained his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, and completed his MPH from the American International University, Bangladesh. Fahim has an impressive track record of working on malnutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, nutrition-infection interactions, environmental enteric dysfunction, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, gut microbial dysbiosis, and nutrition-related non-communicable diseases in children and adults. He was awarded the Dr Asma Islam Memorial Gold Medel Award and the Young Scientist Award from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh for his work on EED, enteric infections, and micronutrient deficiencies in children during the early years of life.

Vishal Midya, PhD, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA

Dr Vishal Midya is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine and Climate Science at Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York. His primary research focuses on developing interpretable machine-learning models for environmental health to understand how exposure to environmental chemicals during pregnancy affects pediatric gastrointestinal and mental health outcomes and how the gut microbiome can modify these effects. 

About the Collection

BMC Gastroenterology is welcoming submissions to a new Collection on Environmental factors and digestive health. Gastrointestinal diseases continue to pose significant challenges to global health. While genetic predisposition and lifestyle choices play crucial roles in digestive disorders, emerging evidence suggests that environmental factors also wield a substantial influence.

As our global environment undergoes continuous changes, including fluctuations in climate, heightened levels of pollution, and increased exposure to various environmental stressors, a deeper comprehension of these dynamics is necessary. Interdisciplinary research across fields such as gastroenterology, environmental science, and microbiology has produced significant breakthroughs, revealing a role of the gut microbiome in maintaining health and combating diseases. Furthermore, researchers have uncovered correlations between dietary habits and gastrointestinal disorders, such as Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD) or Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD). Lastly, the impact of environmental pollutants, such as air and water contaminants, pesticide residues and microplastics, have caused the rise of foodborne and autoimmune gastrointestinal diseases. By further exploring these interconnections, we anticipate the identification of new therapeutic targets, the development of personalized interventions, and the formulation of population-wide strategies to prevent and manage digestive disorders in the face of environmental challenges. 

We invite contributions that examine a wide range of topics relating to the impact of environmental factors on digestive health, including but not limited to:

  • Microbiome modulation by environmental exposures
  • Relationship between pesticide exposure and risk of colorectal cancer
  • Impact of climate change on gastrointestinal diseases
  • Association between waterborne pathogens and acute gastrointestinal infections
  • Influence of industrial pollutants on the prevalence and severity of GERD
  • Association between air pollution and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)
  • Geographical disparities in gastrointestinal disease burden
  • Impact of urbanization and changing dietary habits on the rising incidence of metabolic associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD)
  • Impact of pesticides and other chemicals on gastrointestinal health
  • The role of environmental pollutants in triggering autoimmune liver diseases
  • Influence of agricultural practices and soil quality on the occurrence of gastrointestinal parasites and infections


This Collection supports and amplifies research related to SDG 3: Good Health & Well-Being.

Image credit: © zatevakhin / stock.adobe.com

  1. Gallstone disease poses a global threat to human health and is strongly linked to environmental factors. However, there is currently no data on the presence of rare earth elements (REEs) in human gallstones. T...

    Authors: Shuang Shen, Guilin Han, Zhixia Dong, Shan Wu, Shunrong Ma, Ziyang Ding, Ye Zhao and Xinjian Wan
    Citation: BMC Gastroenterology 2024 24:324
    Content type: Research Published on:

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of original Research Articles. Should you wish to submit a different article type, please read our submission guidelines to confirm that type is accepted by the journal. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Environmental factors and digestive health" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.