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Topic · Plant Science

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture

Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture is a research topic within Plant Science. Science Explorer counts 3.7k research works in it since 1959. 10.3% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the intersection of indigenous knowledge and soil management practices, focusing on the role of local communities in sustainable agriculture, soil fertility assessment, and land use. It discusses the challenges and opportunities of integrating traditional farming systems with scientific soil knowledge for sustainable development.

  • Indigenous Knowledge
  • Soil Fertility
  • Local Soil Classification
  • Sustainable Development
  • Knowledge Management
  • Agricultural Practices
  • Farmers' Perception
  • Land Use
  • Ethnopedology
  • Traditional Farming Systems
Research works
3.7k
fractional, since 1959
In the world top 10%
384
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.3%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+152%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
India
35% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture

Which countries lead Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture research?

By volume, India and the United States publish the most (393 and 150 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 India 393 works
  2. 2 United States 150 works
  3. 3 Nigeria 121 works
  4. 4 South Africa 120 works
  5. 5 Ethiopia 79 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 67 works
  7. 7 Australia 54 works
  8. 8 Brazil 47 works
  9. 9 Canada 44 works
  10. 10 Philippines 38 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.

India: 35.3%United States: 13.4%Nigeria: 10.9%South Africa: 10.8%6 others listed: 29.6%35%largest
India393 · 35.3%United States150 · 13.4%Nigeria121 · 10.9%South Africa120 · 10.8%6 others listed329 · 29.6%

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

Which institutions lead Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture research?

By volume in 2022-now, Indian Council of Agricultural Research publishes the most Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture research, followed by University of South Africa and G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce College.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 26 works
  2. 2 University of South AfricaSouth Africa 26 works
  3. 3 G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce CollegeIndia 19 works
  4. 4 Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 16 works
  5. 5 Government of Western AustraliaAustralia 10 works
  6. 6 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 10 works
  7. 7 Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural ResearchEthiopia 9 works
  8. 8 University of ZululandSouth Africa 8 works
  9. 9 University of IbadanNigeria 8 works
  10. 10 Addis Ababa UniversityEthiopia 8 works

Who are the leading researchers in Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture include Carl Folke and Johannes C. Lehmann.

  1. 1 Carl Folke Sweden 182k citations
  2. 2 Johannes C. Lehmann United States 98k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture?

The most cited paper in Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture is "Soil quality – A critical review" (Else K. Bünemann, Giulia Bongiorno, Zhanguo Bai et al., 2018), with 2,924 citations. Next come "Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge" (2,190) and "The concept and future prospects of soil health" (1,778).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Soil quality – A critical review Else K. Bünemann, Giulia Bongiorno, Zhanguo Bai et al. · Soil Biology and Biochemistry Open access 12 Feb 2018 2,924
2 Dismantling the Divide Between Indigenous and Scientific Knowledge Arun Agrawal · Development and Change Open access Jul 1995 2,190
3 The concept and future prospects of soil health Johannes C. Lehmann, Déborah Bossio, Ingrid Kögel‐Knabner et al. · Nature Reviews Earth & Environment ReviewOpen access 25 Aug 2020 1,778
4 Ways of knowing, being and doing: A theoretical framework and methods for indigenous and indigenist re‐search Karen Martin · Journal of Australian Studies 2003 1,244
5 Two-Eyed Seeing and other lessons learned within a co-learning journey of bringing together indigenous and mainstream knowledges and ways of knowing Cheryl M. Bartlett, Murdena Marshall, Albert W. Marshall · Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences 15 Aug 2012 1,174
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture research done?

The largest centres of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture research in 2022-now are New Delhi (India), Pretoria (South Africa), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Kathmandu (Nepal). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Addis Ababa.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 New DelhiIndia 35 works
  2. 2 PretoriaSouth Africa 33 works
  3. 3 Addis AbabaEthiopia 25 works
  4. 4 KathmanduNepal 21 works
  5. 5 AkolaIndia 19 works
  6. 6 JohannesburgSouth Africa 15 works
  7. 7 NairobiKenya 15 works
  8. 8 DurbanSouth Africa 14 works
  9. 9 CanberraAustralia 13 works
  10. 10 KampalaUganda 12 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Addis AbabaET · 25.0 works21×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture than the world average.

See Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture on the map

Where is the best place to study Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture?

Among universities, judged by research, University of South Africa, University of Zululand and University of Johannesburg 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 15.6833%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of ZululandUniversity of South …University of Johann…Tribhuvan University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of South AfricaSouth Africa 83.431.9%39.9×26 +231.1%
2University of ZululandSouth Africa 55.534.7%106.6×8 +271.2%
3University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 43.212.0%10.8×10 +560.4%
4Tribhuvan UniversityNepal 37.23.2%13.7×16 +175.1%
5G.S. Science, Arts And Commerce CollegeIndia 27.41.1%74.9×19 -
6Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural ResearchEthiopia 24.811.2%50.4×9 +212.5%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture, country by country

Is Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 152% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2026. The fastest-growing topics are Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0037% in 2024.

still counting0.0050%0.010%Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture0.0099% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Indigenous Knowledge Systems and Agriculture10.4% in 202520102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

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.

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