A Scientometric Analysis of Worldwide Soil Carbon Stocks Research from 2000 to 2014

To understand the history and research status of soil carbon stocks, we collected soil carbon stocks citation data from the Science Citation Index Expanded during the period from 2000 to 2014. Next, we used HistCite to analyse the yearly output, country, institution, citation impact and citation relationships in the field. Results suggested that the research of soil carbon stocks has been steadily increasing during the studied 15-year period. The country with the highest research output was USA, and the institution with the highest research output was the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Majority of articles and the highest total location citation score (TLCS) values came from developed countries. Also, developed countries have more research advantages in this field than developing countries. The top three outputs journals were Soil Biology and Biochemistry, Global Change Biology, and Geoderma, whereas the top three TLCS journals were Global Change Biology, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, and Soil Science Society of America Journal. Articles published with higher TLCS values had a greater impact in the field of soil carbon stocks and played an important role in research trends.