Soil science reference books - CiteSeerX

Catena 95 (2012) 142–144

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Review

Soil science reference books Alfred E. Hartemink University of Wisconsin - Madison, Department of Soil Science, F.D. Hole Soils lab, 1525 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706 USA

a r t i c l e

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a b s t r a c t

Article history: Received 21 January 2012 Received in revised form 10 February 2012 Accepted 13 February 2012

More than half a million soil science papers have been published since the 1920s. In addition, a large number of books are being published. This paper focuses on the seven major soil reference books that were published between 2000 and 2012: Handbook of Soil Science (2000 and 2012), Encyclopedia of Soil Science (2002 and 2006), Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment (2005), Encyclopedia of Soil Science (2008), and Soil Science — Reference collection (2009). These soils science reference books contain 1920 articles (12,295 pages) authored by some 2000 authors. The Handbook of Soil Science covers the basic subdisciplines (physics, chemistry, biology, pedology) most extensively whereas the encyclopedia have more applied entries/articles. Overall, these intradisciplinary reference works show that the soil science discipline is vibrant and has a rapidly expanding knowledge base. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Soil publications Soil books Soil physics Soil chemistry Soil biology Pedology

Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . 2. Soil reference books . . . 3. Subject analysis . . . . . 4. Discussion and conclusions References . . . . . . . . . .

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1. Introduction Soil science as an independent discipline started somewhere in the mid-nineteenth century (Brevik and Hartemink, 2010). Until the end of the nineteenth century soil investigations were published through books and monographs and the first journal dedicated to soil science, Pochvovedenie, was published in 1899 in Russia. Up to the 1950s, there were four scientific journals in which soil investigations were published (Soil Science in 1916; Soil Science Society of America Journal in 1936; Plant and Soil in 1948; Journal of Soil Science in 1949). Seven soil science journals were started in the 1940s and 1950s and another peak occurred in the early 1980s. At present, there are some 35 journals with their main focus on soil science (Hartemink, 2001; Minasny et al., 2007). Scientific publishing has several goals but the primary goal is the exchange of findings and ideas. That exchange has been mostly through journal articles and conference proceedings. In the late 1920s, E. Blanck of the University of Göttingen published the

E-mail address: [email protected]. 0341-8162/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.catena.2012.02.010

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142 143 144 144 144

Handbuch der Bodenlehre (Blanck, 1929–1932). A colossal work of 10 volumes summarizing what was known then about soils. It was written by a dozen German scientists, and some Austrians, Hungarians and Swiss soil scientists, and deals with all aspects of soil science including soil genesis and cartography, weathering and climate, zonal soils, soil physics, chemistry and biology, and soil fertility and management. The 10 volumes cover 5,428 pages and like many publications in that time, it was published in German only. A large number of soil science papers and books have been published since the 1920s, and Hartemink et al. (2009) estimated that about half a million articles were published between 1920 and 2007. Currently, the annual increase in soil science publications is 5 to 10% per year. About 16% of all soil science publications are published in primary soil science journals and most soil science research is being published in non-soil science journals (Minasny et al., 2007). Several studies have quantified the trend in journal articles (Minasny et al., 2007; Yaalon, 1964, 1989) including estimates of differences between the soil science subdisciplines (Hartemink et al., 2001; van Baren et al., 2000). That rapidly expanding knowledge base has been compiled and summarized in seven major soil

A.E. Hartemink / Catena 95 (2012) 142–144

143

Table 1 Comparison between major soil science reference works 2000–2012. Major reference work

Year

Editor

Number of articles, entries

Number of authors

Number of pages

Pages/article

Pages/author

Handbook of Soil Science, 1st edition (1 volume) Encyclopedia of Soil Science, 1st edition (1 volume) Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment (4 volumes) Encyclopedia of Soil Science, 2nd edition (2 volumes) Encyclopedia of Soil Science (1 volume) Soil Science (4 volumes)

2000

M.E. Sumner

57

146

2110

37.0

14.5

2002

R. Lal

360

400

1476

4.1

3.7

2005

D. Hillel

267

374

2119

7.9

5.7

2006

R. Lal

458

571

1923

4.2

3.4

2008 2009

W. Chesworth A.E. Hartemink, A.B. McBratney, R.E. White P.M. Huang, Y. Li, M.E. Sumner

620 86

127 163

845 1667

1.4 19.4

4.9 10.2

72

240

2155

29.9

9.0

Handbook of Soil Science, 2nd edition (2 volumes)

2012

reference works that were published between 2000 and 2012. This paper reviews those works, what is in them, and analyses some the main differences and similarities. 2. Soil reference books The first encyclopedia of soil science appeared in 1979, and it focused on soil physics, chemistry, biology and fertility and technology (Fairbridge and Finkl, 1979). There were 112 contributors and the encyclopedia covered 136 entries and 620 pages. This was volume 12 in an established series (Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series) edited by geologist R.W. Fairbridge of Columbia University and C.W. Finkl of Nova University. Twenty years later the Handbook of Soil Science (Sumner, 2000) was published, and it has sections on soil physics, soil chemistry, soil biology and biochemistry, soil fertility and plant nutrition, pedology, soil mineralogy, interdisciplinary aspects of soils science, and soil databases. The handbook contains 57 articles (2,110 pages) written by 146 authors.

Two years later the Encyclopedia of Soil Science was published (Lal, 2002) with contributions from 400 authors. It contains nearly 1500 pages covering 360 entries. In 2004, the Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment was launched at the annual meeting of the Soil Science Society of America (Hillel et al., 2005). Its four volumes have 267 entries covering 2119 pages. It was written by 374 authors. A relatively thin Encyclopedia of Soil Science was published in 2008 (Chesworth, 2008) that has on average the shortest article/entry. In 2006 and 2012 updated and expanded editions were published of the Encyclopedia of Soil Science (Lal, 2006) and the Handbook of Soil Science (Huang et al., 2012). In 2009, four Soil Science books were published that contain 86 seminal soil science articles covering 1667 pages (Hartemink et al., 2009). Table 1 shows the number of articles, authors and pages for the seven major reference works. Firstly, it should be noted that all these reference books are voluminous bodies of work (ranging from 845 to 2155 pages). The Handbook of Soil Science (2000) has on average the longest article (37 pages) whereas the Encyclopedia of Soil

Fig. 1. Subject analysis of four major soil science reference books (based on 835 articles/entries).

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A.E. Hartemink / Catena 95 (2012) 142–144

Science edited by R. Lal (2002, 2006) and W. Chesworth (2008) has relatively short entries. Second editions had mostly an increased number of articles/entries, more authors and shorter articles/entries. More authors are generally needed when the length of article increases but their relative contribution decreases (Hartemink et al., 2001). 3. Subject analysis From four of these reference works a subject analysis was conducted. In total 854 articles and entries were classified in one of the following seven classes: Soil Physics, Soil Chemistry, Soil Biology, Pedology/Soil Classification/Mapping, Mineralogy, Soil Fertility & Plant Nutrition, and Soil & Environment (Fig. 1). The share of Soil Physics paper is about 13% in all four books. Soil Chemistry and Soil Biology are well covered in the Handbook of Soil Science (2000 and 2012) whereas relatively more articles on Mineralogy have been included in the Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment (2005). Pedology is well covered in all these four reference works. The Encyclopedia of Soil Science (2006) has the largest number of entries/articles on Soils and the Environment. Overall it appears that the Handbook covers the basic pillars in the soil science discipline well whereas the Encyclopedia includes many entries/articles on more applied soil science. 4. Discussion and conclusions Seven major reference works in 12 years: 1920 articles filling 12,295 pages – that is twice the amount as in the Handbuch der Bodenlehre from the 1920s (Blanck, 1929–1932), but with 200 times more authors. The general purpose of an encyclopedia is to collect, compile and select knowledge and wisdom from all over the world and to present it in a general system so that past work is available for future generations. According to Denis Diderot (1713–1784), a French philosopher and writer who founded and edited the Encyclopédie, the purpose of an encyclopedia is also that our offspring will become better instructed and will at the same time become more virtuous and happy, and that we should not die without having rendered a service to the human race in the future years to come (Furbank, 1992). The French Encyclopédie was the first encyclopedia to include contributions from many different contributors and is famous above all for representing the thought of the Enlightenment. According to Diderot the Encyclopédie's aim was "to change the way people think." He wanted to incorporate all of the world's knowledge into the Encyclopédie for the public and future generations (Furbank, 1992). From this, the question can be raised how well these major soil reference books serve for future generations. At first, these major soil reference works show that soil science has an active publishing culture and that there are large amounts of scientific information that can be summarized and the books are a clear indicator of the vigour of the soil science discipline. The discipline is rapidly advancing and combining a range of new technologies and findings to answer issues related to soils and climate, food production, biodiversity, water and energy requirements (Hartemink, 2008; McBratney et al., 2006). These books also serve the purpose that Diderot so well formulated: to systematically compile our knowledge for the future generations. Peer-reviewed soil science publications are growing each year and for many researchers and students it may be difficult to stay abreast of the scientific paper production. These reference books offer hundreds of well-written review papers that have been carefully edited, and the books are a soil science legacy that will be used for many years to come. Web-based reviews may continue to grow and outdate

part of the entries and articles in these reference books. Citations of journal articles can be traced through e.g. the Web of Knowledge or Scopus, but for most book and book chapters accurate metrics on the number of citation is lacking. Google scholar lists that the first edition of Handbook of Soil Science (2000) has about 200 citations whereas the encyclopedia that followed in subsequent years have only several tens of citations — well below many review articles in soil science. It is postulated that the chapters and entries in these soil science reference books are well-read but rarely cited as preference is given to journal articles that are used in citation metrics like journal impact factors and author's h-index. The reference works are aiming at both professionals and nonspecialists. The soil science discipline is partly fragmented and these reference books importantly serve to inform the soil science community about developments in other parts of the discipline. When looking for the meaning of a word or a short description, soil and environmental science dictionaries may suffice (Gregorich et al., 2000; Lozet et al., 1991; Troeh and Donahue, 2003). For short explanations or to refresh knowledge the Encyclopedia of Soil Science edited by R. Lal (2002, 2006) and W. Chesworth (2008) are useful. For detailed articles the Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment can be consulted (Hillel et al., 2005) whereas for a thorough review of a subject the Handbook of Soil Science (Huang et al., 2012; Sumner, 2000) should be read. At last, the developments in a range soil science subdisciplines can be traced through the seminal papers in the 4-volume Soil Science reference works (Hartemink et al., 2009). These reference books are a giant intradisciplinary effort to summarise the state of knowledge in soil science. In a well-funded laboratory, research centre or university department all these books are available and will be used differently by different people.

References Blanck, E., 1929–1932. Handbuch der Bodenlehre, vol. I-X. Verlag von Julius Springer, Berlin. Brevik, E.C., Hartemink, A.E., 2010. Early soil knowledge and the birth and development of soil science. Catena 83, 23–33. Chesworth, W., 2008. Encyclopedia of Soil Science. Springer, Dorderecht. Fairbridge, R.W., Finkl, C.W. (Eds.), 1979. The encyclopedia of soil science. Part 1. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. Furbank, P.N., 1992. Diderot: A Critical Biography. A. A Knopf, New York. Gregorich, E.G., Turchenek, L.W., Carter, M.R., Angers, D.A. (Eds.), 2000. Soil and environmental science dictionary. CRC Press, Boca Raton. Hartemink, A.E., 2001. Look at it this way - Publishing science: past, present and the future. Outlook on Agriculture 30, 231–237. Hartemink, A.E., 2008. Soils are back on the global agenda. Soil Use and Management 24, 327–330. Hartemink, A.E., McBratney, A.B., Cattle, J.A., 2001. Developments and trends in soil science: 100 volumes of Geoderma (1967–2001). Geoderma 100, 217–268. Hartemink, A.E., McBratney, A.B., White, R.E. (Eds.), 2009. Soil science, 4 volumes. Earthscan, London. Hillel, D., Hatfield, J.L., Rosenzweig, C., Scow, K.M., Singer, M.J., Sparks, D.L. (Eds.), 2005. Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment, 4 vols. Elsevier, Amsterdam. Huang, P.M., Li, Y., Sumner, M.E. (Eds.), 2012. Handbook of Soil Sciences, 2nd edition Volume 1: Properties and Processes; Volume 2: Resource Management and Environmental Impacts. CRC Press, Boca Raton. Lal, R. (Ed.), 2002. Encyclopedia of Soil Science. Marcel Dekker, New York. Lal, R. (Ed.), 2006. Encyclopedia of Soil Science, 2nd edition. Taylor & Francis, New York. Lozet, J., Mathieu, C., Jamagne, M., 1991. Dictionary of soil science, 2nd edition. A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam. McBratney, A.B., Minasny, B., Rossel, R.V., 2006. Spectral soil analysis and inference systems: A powerful combination for solving the soil data crisis. Geoderma 136, 272–278. Minasny, B., Hartemink, A.E., McBratney, A., 2007. Soil science and the h index. Scientometrics 73, 257–264. Sumner, M.E. (Ed.), 2000. Handbook of Soil Science. CRC Press, Boca Raton. Troeh, F.R., Donahue, R.L., 2003. Dictionary of agricultural and environmental science. Iowa State Press, Ames. van Baren, H., Hartemink, A.E., Tinker, P.B., 2000. 75 years the International Society of Soil Science. Geoderma 96, 1–18. Yaalon, D.H., 1964. Has soil research national characteristics? Soils and Fertilizers 27, 89–93. Yaalon, D.H., 1989. Who is publishing and where on soil science of the tropics? Scientometrics 15, 313–314.