On the Use of Soil Classification in Soil Science Journals.

The use of soil classification and factor and soil property naming (e.g. agricultural soil, alluvial soil) have been quantified in soil science journal papers between 1975 and 2014. There is an exponential increase in the use of Taxonomy and WRB, but the increase in soil science papers outstrips the use of Soil Taxonomy and WRB. Factor and property naming in soil science papers increases much faster than Taxonomy and WRB. The percentage of papers with soil classification information was highest in Geoderma (34%). The soil biology journals had soil classification in only 6% of their papers. There is ample soil classification information available on the web but there seems a new generation of soil scientists who do not know how to access it or use it properly. This is accompanied by a decreasing of number of soil scientists who know field soil science, soil survey and classification. Renewed interest in pedology following the developments in digital soil mapping and morphometrics, proximal soil sensing, and the Universal Soil Classification System will create appreciation for one of the most demanding task in our discipline: classifiying soils.