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Subfield · Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Soil Science research

Soil Science is a subfield of Agricultural and Biological Sciences. Science Explorer counts 266k research works in it since 1950. 18.7% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

In short: study of soil as a natural resource on the surface of the earth.

Research works
266k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
50k
per year above
Top-10% rate
18.7%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Topics
12
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+56%
the tick is no change

What is Soil Science research about, and what is growing?

By the world's output in 2019–23, its most used keywords are Soil Fertility, Microbial Communities, Sustainable Agriculture, Soil Degradation, Composting, Nitrogen Cycle. Gaining share since 2009–13: Organic Farming, Plant Nutrition, Sustainable Agriculture, Paleosols, Soil Evolution. Losing share: Land Tenure, Property Rights, No-till Crop Production, Soil Compaction.

▲ gaining share of this field◆ holding its share▼ losing share

Size is the world's fractional works in 2019–23 in the topics tagged with each word; colour compares the word's share of this field with 2009–13. Each links to the topic it comes from most.

All 32 words, with their numbers
  1. Soil Fertility33k▲ 1.27×3 topics
  2. Microbial Communities20k◆ 0.98×2 topics
  3. Sustainable Agriculture18k▲ 2.3×2 topics
  4. Soil Degradation17k▼ 0.74×2 topics
  5. Composting16k▲ 2.1×2 topics
  6. Nitrogen Cycle15k▼ 0.84×1 topic
  7. Soil Carbon Sequestration15k▼ 0.84×1 topic
  8. Organic Farming13k▲ 3.2×1 topic
  9. Plant Nutrition13k▲ 3.2×1 topic
  10. Crop Productivity12k◆ 1.07×2 topics
  11. Agricultural Sustainability11k▼ 0.76×1 topic
  12. Soil Erosion11k▼ 0.76×1 topic
  13. Soil Quality7,021▼ 0.71×2 topics
  14. Deficit Irrigation6,832◆ 0.94×1 topic
  15. Water Use Efficiency6,832◆ 0.94×1 topic
  16. Risk Management6,381◆ 1.02×1 topic
  17. Vulnerability6,381◆ 1.02×1 topic
  18. No-till Crop Production6,127▼ 0.70×1 topic
  19. Soil Compaction6,127▼ 0.70×1 topic
  20. Desertification5,648▲ 1.62×2 topics
  21. Integrated Nutrient Management5,244▲ 1.31×1 topic
  22. Organic Manure5,244▲ 1.31×1 topic
  23. Paleosols4,754▲ 2.1×1 topic
  24. Soil Evolution4,754▲ 2.1×1 topic
  25. Maturity Assessment3,489◆ 0.94×1 topic
  26. Organic Waste3,489◆ 0.94×1 topic
  27. Land Tenure3,233▼ 0.51×1 topic
  28. Property Rights3,233▼ 0.51×1 topic
  29. Humic Substances995▲ 1.26×1 topic
  30. Shilajit995▲ 1.26×1 topic
  31. Conservation Agriculture894▼ 0.71×1 topic
  32. Water Productivity894▼ 0.71×1 topic

Which countries lead Soil Science research?

On research quality in 2022–2025, China, the United States and India rank highest in Soil Science. By volume, Indonesia and China publish the most (12k and 12k works in 2022–2025).

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China · #2 all time 33.9% top 10% · 12k works
  2. 2 United States · #1 all time 20.7% top 10% · 4.4k works
  3. 3 India · #5 all time 11.0% top 10% · 7.7k works
  4. 4 Australia · #6 all time 28.6% top 10% · 785 works
  5. 5 Germany · #4 all time 29.6% top 10% · 975 works
  6. 6 United Kingdom · #3 all time 24.8% top 10% · 851 works
  7. 7 Italy · #10 all time 26.5% top 10% · 836 works
  8. 8 France · #7 all time 21.1% top 10% · 850 works
  9. 9 Indonesia · #16 all time 1.4% top 10% · 12k works
  10. 10 Ethiopia · #18 all time 24.2% top 10% · 916 works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 43 countries ranked in Soil Science. Composite of field-normalised excellence (50%), output (30%) and citations (20%); the bracket is the all-time rank.

All countries ranked in Soil Science

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Indonesia 12k works
  2. 2 China 12k works
  3. 3 India 7.7k works
  4. 4 United States 4.4k works
  5. 5 Brazil 3.6k works
  6. 6 Russia 2.4k works
  7. 7 Germany 975 works
  8. 8 Nigeria 962 works
  9. 9 Ethiopia 916 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 851 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

Indonesia: 26.0%China: 26.0%India: 17.0%United States: 9.7%6 others listed: 21.2%26%largest
Indonesia12k · 26.0%China12k · 26.0%India7,715 · 17.0%United States4,388 · 9.7%6 others listed9,632 · 21.2%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Soil Science research?

Chinese Academy of Sciences (China) ranks first in Soil Science on research quality in 2022–2025, followed by Northwest A&F University and China Agricultural University.

By research quality, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #1 all time 37.0% top 10% · 525 works
  2. 2 Northwest A&F University China · Yangling · #4 all time 44.5% top 10% · 356 works
  3. 3 China Agricultural University China · Beijing · #3 all time 43.4% top 10% · 290 works
  4. 4 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences China · Beijing · #8 all time 39.1% top 10% · 272 works
  5. 5 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs China · Beijing · #48 all time 42.6% top 10% · 225 works
  6. 6 Institute of Soil and Water Conservation China · Yangling · #23 all time 37.3% top 10% · 163 works
  7. 7 Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences China · Beijing · #33 all time 42.9% top 10% · 154 works
  8. 8 Nanjing Agricultural University China · Nanjing · #17 all time 43.6% top 10% · 143 works
  9. 9 Zhejiang University China · Hangzhou · #29 all time 46.0% top 10% · 104 works
  10. 10 Northeast Agricultural University China · Harbin · #45 all time 40.1% top 10% · 126 works

The track on each row is that row’s top-10% rate. The ranking itself is the composite score, which the rate is only one part of.

Of 139 institutions above the floor of 40 fractional works in Soil Science.

Top 100 Soil Science institutions

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 525 works
  2. 2 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 356 works
  3. 3 University of MataramIndonesia 341 works
  4. 4 IPB UniversityIndonesia 314 works
  5. 5 Lampung UniversityIndonesia 295 works
  6. 6 China Agricultural UniversityChina 290 works
  7. 7 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 272 works
  8. 8 University of BrawijayaIndonesia 270 works
  9. 9 Tanjungpura UniversityIndonesia 268 works
  10. 10 Sam Higginbottom Institute of AgricultureIndia 258 works

Who are the leading researchers in Soil Science?

Among the most productive authors in Soil Science, C. A. Edwards, Jozef Deckers and Johan Rockström rank highest on the composite score.

  1. 1 C. A. Edwards United States · #262 worldwide 4.6k citations · 190 works
  2. 2 Jozef Deckers Belgium · #849 worldwide 2.8k citations · 132 works
  3. 3 Johan Rockström Germany · #967 worldwide 3.9k citations · 93 works
  4. 4 Markus Reichstein Germany · #1,232 worldwide 3.2k citations · 155 works
  5. 5 Peter B. Reich United States · #1,283 worldwide 4.1k citations · 157 works
  6. 6 Keith Paustian United States · #2,115 worldwide 2.5k citations · 101 works
  7. 7 Johannes Lehmann United States · #2,116 worldwide 2.2k citations · 94 works
  8. 8 Nina Buchmann Switzerland · #2,434 worldwide 2.4k citations · 119 works
  9. 9 David Tilman United States · #2,520 worldwide 6.9k citations · 69 works
  10. 10 Mark R. Rosenzweig United States · #2,521 worldwide 2.1k citations · 158 works

Re-ranked on the composite score from the 5,217 highest-output authors in Soil Science. Identities come from OpenAlex author disambiguation, which occasionally merges or splits people.

Top 100 Soil Science researchers

Where is Soil Science research done?

The largest centres of Soil Science research in 2022–2025 are Beijing (China), Jakarta (Indonesia), Nanjing (China) and Moscow (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Yangling, Jobner and Rāhuri.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Beijing China 3.2k works
  2. 2 Jakarta Indonesia 708 works
  3. 3 Nanjing China 704 works
  4. 4 Moscow Russia 670 works
  5. 5 New Delhi India 568 works
  6. 6 Medan Indonesia 557 works
  7. 7 Malang Indonesia 504 works
  8. 8 Bandung Indonesia 457 works
  9. 9 Surabaya Indonesia 455 works
  10. 10 Bogor Indonesia 444 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. YanglingCN · 164.2 works62×
  2. JobnerIN · 35.6 works40×
  3. RāhuriIN · 59.5 works33×
  4. PālanpurIN · 30.9 works27×
  5. HarpendenGB · 34.1 works27×
  6. SabaurIN · 43.5 works25×
  7. KrishnanagarIN · 69.7 works25×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Soil Science than the world average.

See Soil Science on the map

Soil Science research by country

The best places for Soil Science research inside each country, with that country's researchers and world standing.

Where is the best place to study Soil Science?

Among universities, judged by research, Northwest A&F University, China Agricultural University and Bahir Dar University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%20%40%mean 30.98%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Northwest A&F University: 356, 44.5%China Agricultural University: 290, 43.4%Bahir Dar University: 77, 29.6%Wolaita Sodo University: 31, 34.0%Hawassa University: 58, 25.0%The University of Agriculture, Peshawar: 40, 24.5%Arba Minch University: 46, 25.7%Gansu Agricultural University: 134, 37.5%Punjab Agricultural University: 194, 14.6%University for Development Studies: 45, 31.0%Northwest A&F Univer…China Agricultural U…Wolaita Sodo Univers…Bahir Dar University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 79.744.5%14.7×356 +78.5%
2 China Agricultural UniversityChina 69.743.4%8.4×290 +15.9%
3 Bahir Dar UniversityEthiopia 63.729.6%8.6×77 +207.5%
4 Wolaita Sodo UniversityEthiopia 63.434.0%10.6×31 +1158.9%
5 Hawassa UniversityEthiopia 62.725.0%10.0×58 +198.6%
6 The University of Agriculture, PeshawarPakistan 61.924.5%12.6×40 +301.5%
7 Arba Minch UniversityEthiopia 61.425.7%10.8×46 +1016.9%
8 Gansu Agricultural UniversityChina 60.237.5%14.7×134 -43.9%
9 Punjab Agricultural UniversityIndia 59.514.6%19.4×194 +141.1%
10 University for Development StudiesGhana 58.931.0%7.9×45 +190.2%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Soil Science research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 56% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Plant Growth and Agriculture Techniques, Soil and Environmental Studies and Agricultural Science and Fertilization.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

  1. Plant Growth and Agriculture Techniques+907%
  2. Soil and Environmental Studies+288%
  3. Agricultural Science and Fertilization+228%
  4. Humic Substances and Bio-Organic Studies+190%
  5. Agricultural risk and resilience+169%
  6. Soil Management and Crop Yield+132%
← shrinkingno changegrowing →

Growth in output from 2005–09 to 2015–19. Every topic is a page of its own.

What does Soil Science include?

Soil Carbon and Nitrogen…61kSoil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics: 61k fractional worksSoil erosion and sediment transport: 41k fractional worksPlant Growth and Agriculture Techniques: 28k fractional worksIrrigation Practices and Water Management: 25k fractional worksSoil Management and Crop Yield: 24k fractional worksAgricultural risk and resilience: 22k fractional worksAgricultural Science and…18kAgricultural Science and Fertilization: 18k fractional worksLand Rights and Reforms: 16k fractional worksComposting and Vermicomposting Techniques: 13k fractional worksSoil and Environmental Studies: 11k fractional worksHumic Substances and Bio-Organic Studies: 3,799 fractional worksSoil Science and Environmental Management: 3,713 fractional works

Area is fractional works in that topic. Every name below is a page of its own.