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Topic · General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Plant and soil sciences

Plant and soil sciences is a research topic within General Agricultural and Biological Sciences. Science Explorer counts 24k research works in it since 1950. 9.8% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers covers a wide range of topics related to agroecology, sustainable agriculture, and organic farming. It includes research on soil management, biodiversity, crop production, environmental impact, and climate change adaptation in rural communities. The papers also discuss the importance of food security and the challenges of agricultural practices in diverse ecological contexts.

  • Agroecology
  • Sustainable Agriculture
  • Organic Farming
  • Soil Management
  • Biodiversity
  • Crop Production
  • Environmental Impact
  • Climate Change Adaptation
  • Rural Communities
  • Food Security
Research works
24k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
2.3k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.8%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-15%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
Mexico
36% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Plant and soil sciences

Which countries lead Plant and soil sciences research?

By volume, Mexico and Ecuador publish the most (1.3k and 581 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Mexico 1.3k works
  2. 2 Ecuador 581 works
  3. 3 Colombia 527 works
  4. 4 Peru 385 works
  5. 5 Spain 214 works
  6. 6 Argentina 166 works
  7. 7 United States 119 works
  8. 8 ?? 117 works
  9. 9 Cuba 110 works
  10. 10 Brazil 106 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.

Mexico: 35.9%Ecuador: 16.0%Colombia: 14.5%Peru: 10.6%6 others listed: 22.9%36%largest
Mexico1,299 · 35.9%Ecuador581 · 16.0%Colombia527 · 14.5%Peru385 · 10.6%6 others listed832 · 22.9%

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

Which institutions lead Plant and soil sciences research?

By volume in 2022-now, Colegio de Postgraduados publishes the most Plant and soil sciences research, followed by Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y Pecuarias and Tecnológico Nacional de México.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Colegio de PostgraduadosMexico 244 works
  2. 2 Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Forestales Agrícolas y PecuariasMexico 107 works
  3. 3 Tecnológico Nacional de MéxicoMexico 90 works
  4. 4 Universidad Técnica Estatal de QuevedoEcuador 68 works
  5. 5 Universidad Nacional de ColombiaColombia 63 works
  6. 6 Colombian Corporation for Agricultural Research - AGROSAVIAColombia 53 works
  7. 7 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 51 works
  8. 8 Universidad VeracruzanaMexico 49 works
  9. 9 Universidad Autónoma Agraria Antonio NarroMexico 45 works
  10. 10 Escuela Superior Politécnica del ChimborazoEcuador 43 works

Who are the leading researchers in Plant and soil sciences?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Plant and soil sciences include Josep Peñuelas, Carlos Lacasta and Harold A. Mooney.

  1. 1 Josep Peñuelas Spain 160k citations
  2. 2 Carlos Lacasta France 120k citations
  3. 3 Harold A. Mooney United States 108k 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 Plant and soil sciences?

The most cited paper in Plant and soil sciences is "Biocontrol mechanisms of Trichoderma strains." (Tahı́a Benı́tez, Ana María Rincón, M. Carmen Limón et al., 2004), with 1,430 citations. Next come "BIOGEOGRAPHIC AREAS AND TRANSITION ZONES OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS BASED ON PANBIOGEOGRAPHIC AND CLADISTIC ANALYSES OF THE ENTOMOFAUNA" (846) and "Physiological Aspects of Grain Yield" (594).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 Biocontrol mechanisms of Trichoderma strains. Tahı́a Benı́tez, Ana María Rincón, M. Carmen Limón et al. · PubMed Dec 2004 1,430
2 BIOGEOGRAPHIC AREAS AND TRANSITION ZONES OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN ISLANDS BASED ON PANBIOGEOGRAPHIC AND CLADISTIC ANALYSES OF THE ENTOMOFAUNA Juan J. Morrone · Annual Review of Entomology Review 31 Aug 2005 846
3 Physiological Aspects of Grain Yield Shouichi Yoshida · Annual Review of Plant Physiology Jun 1972 594
4 Deforestation of seasonally dry tropical forest Irma Trejo, Rodolfo Dirzo · Biological Conservation Jul 2000 513
5 The history of tomato: From domestication to biopharming Véronique Bergougnoux · Biotechnology Advances 7 Nov 2013 383
All 100 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Plant and soil sciences research done?

The largest centres of Plant and soil sciences research in 2022-now are Mexico City (Mexico), Bogotá (Colombia), Montecillo (Mexico) and Coyoacán (Mexico). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Manizales, Tingo María and Montecillo.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 Mexico CityMexico 196 works
  2. 2 BogotáColombia 167 works
  3. 3 MontecilloMexico 163 works
  4. 4 CoyoacánMexico 107 works
  5. 5 XalapaMexico 104 works
  6. 6 LimaPeru 100 works
  7. 7 TexcocoMexico 83 works
  8. 8 QuevedoEcuador 68 works
  9. 9 GuayaquilEcuador 65 works
  10. 10 QuitoEcuador 57 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Manizales28.8 works860×
  2. Tingo MaríaPE · 26.5 works655×
  3. MontecilloMX · 162.6 works468×
  4. CoyoacánMX · 107.5 works465×
  5. MosqueraCO · 53.3 works454×
  6. TexcocoMX · 83.3 works317×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Plant and soil sciences than the world average.

See Plant and soil sciences on the map

Where is the best place to study Plant and soil sciences?

Among universities, judged by research, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México and Colegio de Postgraduados 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 15.89%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Universidad Nacional…Universidad Nacional…Universidad Técnica …Colegio de Postgradu…
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
1Universidad Nacional de ColombiaColombia 67.525.0%49.0×63 -18.7%
2Universidad Nacional Autónoma de MéxicoMexico 67.215.2%13.8×51 +3.6%
3Colegio de PostgraduadosMexico 61.16.5%489.2×244 -2.6%
4Universidad Técnica Estatal de QuevedoEcuador 60.612.8%248.6×68 +95.8%
5University of the AmazonColombia 57.111.4%116.6×11 +91.8%
6Universidad Juárez del Estado de DurangoMexico 56.716.2%136.2×14 +19.6%
7Universidad Técnica de CotopaxiEcuador 55.213.3%139.6×29 +83.2%
8Universidad Autónoma del Estado de HidalgoMexico 55.114.3%43.2×27 +31.8%
9Universidad del ValleColombia 55.130.7%17.4×9 -48.4%
10Universidad Agraria del EcuadorEcuador 54.313.5%479.3×26 +29.3%

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 Plant and soil sciences, country by country

Is Plant and soil sciences research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 15% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2018.

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 Plant and soil sciences as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.018% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Plant and soil sciences0.017% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Plant and soil sciences 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%Plant and soil sciences10.2% in 2025200020102020

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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