Soil health for sustainable agriculture: A bibliometric review of EU current scientific findings and research trends

Soil health is a key component of sustainable agriculture, supporting climate regulation, ecosystem resilience, and food security. Despite its global importance, a comprehensive, policy-relevant analysis of the European research landscape remains limited. This study presents a bibliometric review of 882 pre-reviewed publications from the Scopus database (2000 - 2024) to map the history, thematic focus, and collaboration networks of soil health research in the European Economic Area (EEA). Using VOSviewer, we identified significant trends by analyzing keywords and their co-occurrence. Results reveal a significant concentration of research output and collaboration in Western Europe, with Germany, Spain, and Italy as the leading contributors. The analysis identifies sustainable agriculture, soil health, and climate change as the core thematic clusters, strongly linked to soil carbon sequestration, land use, and soil degradation. The findings indicate a serious geographical imbalance in research, as well as a continuous gap between multidimensional indicators emphasized in science and the chemically focused parameters of current EU monitoring frameworks. This study highlights the need for more geographically comprehensive research, standardization of biological indicator approaches, and a stronger alignment of scientific assessment and policy implementation to promote soil health for sustainable agriculture across Europe. • This paper provides insights into soil health current scientific funding and research trend In European landscape, assisting researchers, agronomists, and policymakers in soil systems and sustainable land management. • The review uses VOSviewer and Scopus data to identify trends, influential journals, authorship patterns, and thematic clusters in soil sustainability • Identifies key soil indicators and leading countries, journals, and keyword networks • Highlights Germany, Spain, and Italy as leaders in collaborative soil research efforts