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Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics

Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics is a research topic within Soil Science. Science Explorer counts 61k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the dynamics of soil carbon, nitrogen cycling, and microbial communities in various ecosystems. It investigates topics such as soil carbon sequestration, biochar application, nutrient limitation, and the impact of climate change on soil fertility and ecosystem functioning. The research also delves into the interactions between soil microbial communities and plant diversity, with a focus on understanding global biogeochemical cycles.

  • Soil Carbon Sequestration
  • Nitrogen Cycle
  • Microbial Communities
  • Climate Change
  • Biochar Application
  • Ecosystem Functioning
  • Soil Fertility
  • Organic Matter Dynamics
  • Nutrient Limitation
  • Global Biogeochemical Cycles
Research works
61k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
6k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+30%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
56% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics

Which countries lead Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics research?

By volume, China and the United States publish the most (6.8k and 1.6k works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 6.8k works
  2. 2 United States 1.6k works
  3. 3 India 1.1k works
  4. 4 Brazil 568 works
  5. 5 Germany 495 works
  6. 6 Australia 381 works
  7. 7 France 332 works
  8. 8 Canada 299 works
  9. 9 Russia 292 works
  10. 10 United Kingdom 279 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.

China: 56.1%United States: 13.0%India: 9.1%Brazil: 4.7%6 others listed: 17.2%56%largest
China6,783 · 56.1%United States1,570 · 13.0%India1,099 · 9.1%Brazil568 · 4.7%6 others listed2,078 · 17.2%

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

Which institutions lead Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics research?

By volume in 2022-now, Chinese Academy of Sciences publishes the most Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics research, followed by Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and Indian Council of Agricultural Research.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 1k works
  2. 2 Chinese Academy of Agricultural SciencesChina 541 works
  3. 3 Indian Council of Agricultural ResearchIndia 256 works
  4. 4 University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 198 works
  5. 5 Ministry of Agriculture and Rural AffairsChina 177 works
  6. 6 Northwest A&F UniversityChina 173 works
  7. 7 China Agricultural UniversityChina 150 works
  8. 8 United States Department of AgricultureUnited States 137 works
  9. 9 Russian Academy of SciencesRussia 129 works
  10. 10 Nanjing Agricultural UniversityChina 102 works

Who are the leading researchers in Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics include Rob Knight, George Davey Smith and Jun Wang.

  1. 1 Rob Knight United States 468k citations
  2. 2 George Davey Smith United Kingdom 435k citations
  3. 3 Jun Wang China 340k citations
  4. 4 Mark A. Bradford United States 268k citations
  5. 5 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  6. 6 Philippe Ciais France 237k citations
  7. 7 Kai You Wang China 224k citations
  8. 8 David Tilman United States 209k citations
  9. 9 Guangming Zeng China 204k citations
  10. 10 Peter B. Reich United States 189k 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 Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics?

The most cited paper in Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics is "An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass C" (Eric D. Vance, Philip Charles Brookes, David Stewart Jenkinson, 1987), with 13,020 citations. Next come "Improved procedures for clearing roots and staining parasitic and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi for rapid assessment of infection" (8,570) and "Soil Carbon Sequestration Impacts on Global Climate Change and Food Security" (8,396).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 An extraction method for measuring soil microbial biomass C Eric D. Vance, Philip Charles Brookes, David Stewart Jenkinson · Soil Biology and Biochemistry 1987 13,020
2 Improved procedures for clearing roots and staining parasitic and vesicular-arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi for rapid assessment of infection Jean M. Phillips, David S. Hayman · Transactions of the British Mycological Society Aug 1970 8,570
3 Soil Carbon Sequestration Impacts on Global Climate Change and Food Security Rattan Lal · Science 10 Jun 2004 8,396
4 Agricultural sustainability and intensive production practices David Tilman, Kenneth G. Cassman, Pamela A. Matson et al. · Nature Aug 2002 7,955
5 Temperature sensitivity of soil carbon decomposition and feedbacks to climate change Eric A. Davidson, Ivan August Janssens · Nature Open access Mar 2006 7,089
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics research done?

The largest centres of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Nanjing (China), Lanzhou (China) and Harbin (China). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Yangling, Harpenden and Xiaodian.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 1.8k works
  2. 2 NanjingChina 420 works
  3. 3 LanzhouChina 241 works
  4. 4 HarbinChina 204 works
  5. 5 ChangchunChina 189 works
  6. 6 YanglingChina 173 works
  7. 7 GuangzhouChina 172 works
  8. 8 ShenyangChina 145 works
  9. 9 HohhotChina 141 works
  10. 10 KunmingChina 140 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. YanglingCN · 78.5 works112×
  2. HarpendenGB · 23.5 works71×
  3. XiaodianCN · 64.1 works31×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics than the world average.

See Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics on the map

Where is the best place to study Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics?

Among universities, judged by research, Northwest A&F University, China Agricultural University and University of Chinese Academy of Sciences score highest, combining citation 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 17.15%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Northwest A&F Univer…China Agricultural U…Nanjing Agricultural…University of Chines…
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.

Citation 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
1Northwest A&F UniversityChina 75.718.6%32.0×173 +33.3%
2China Agricultural UniversityChina 72.617.1%19.5×150 +56.1%
3University of Chinese Academy of SciencesChina 71.915.1%8.7×198 +23.7%
4Nanjing Agricultural UniversityChina 67.416.0%19.1×102 +28.2%
5Wageningen University & ResearchNetherlands 67.415.9%11.3×57 +15.0%
6Peoples' Friendship University of RussiaRussia 66.331.1%3.5×16 +90.8%
7The University of Western AustraliaAustralia 65.817.0%8.1×48 +17.8%
8Swedish University of Agricultural SciencesSweden 62.39.2%25.1×54 +19.2%
9Huazhong Agricultural UniversityChina 62.116.6%12.6×58 +10.7%
10Aarhus UniversityDenmark 61.714.9%5.0×61 +29.8%

Universities only. The score blends citation 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 Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics, country by country

Is Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 30% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics.

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 Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.059% in 2024.

still counting0.025%0.050%0.075%Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics0.066% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics 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%Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics9.9% 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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