Bibliometric analysis for pattern exploration in worldwide digital soil mapping publications

Abstract

Bibliometric analyses provide a clear understanding of the scientific performance and relate them with standards of the global scientific production. Soil science is an outstanding and developing field among environmental sciences. Knowledge about soil characteristics and their distribution in the environment has been enriched by the use of new geotechnologies, resulting in what is known as digital soil mapping. Thus, the objective of this work was to characterize the scientific production in digital soil mapping in Brazil and in the world, in the period from 1996 to 2017, in databases such as Scopus and Web of Science. In the general context of increasing numbers of papers, the journal Geoderma published the highest number of related papers. Among the 10 with most published papers, the Revista Brasileira de Ciência do Solo is the only open access journal. Although there are countries at the cutting edge of digital soil mapping such as the United States and Australia, the position of Brazil in the number of papers and authors cannot be overlooked, showing the importance of the nation’s participation in digital soil mapping, as a field of science that can provide guidelines for public policies for the development of agriculture in the country.