Pharmaceuticals in the environment (PiE) as a field of research has displayed exponential growth since the late 1990s.
As a highly transdisciplinary field of research, PiE crosscuts many topics, concerns, and disciplines.
The historical emergence of some of the many facets of PiE's was examined using bibliometric analysis.
Some facets span over 70 years of publishing, raising questions regarding research priorities and resource allocation.
A definitive, core list of PiE's most highly cited papers was compiled (385), together with a wide range of other metrics.