Articles | Volume 9, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-9-117-2023
https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-9-117-2023
Review article
 | 
21 Feb 2023
Review article |  | 21 Feb 2023

Quality assessment of meta-analyses on soil organic carbon

Julia Fohrafellner, Sophie Zechmeister-Boltenstern, Rajasekaran Murugan, and Elena Valkama

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Cited articles

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Aguilera, E., Lassaletta, L., Gattinger, A., and Gimeno, B. S.: Managing soil carbon for climate change mitigation and adaptation in Mediterranean cropping systems: A meta-analysis, Agr. Ecosyst. Environ., 168, 25–36, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2013.02.003, 2013. 
Angers, D. A. and Eriksen-Hamel, N. S.: Full-Inversion tillage and organic carbon distribution in soil profiles: A Meta-Analysis, Soil Sci. Soc. Am. J., 72, 1370–1374, https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaj2007.0342, 2008. 
Aksnes, D. W., Langfeldt, L., and Wouters, P.: Citations, Citation Indicators, and Research Quality: An Overview of Basic Concepts and Theories, Sage Open, 9, https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019829575, 2019. 
Bai, X., Huang, Y., Ren, W., Coyne, M., Jacinthe, P.-A., Tao, B., Hui, D., Yang, J., and Matocha, C.: Responses of soil carbon sequestration to climate-smart agriculture practices: A meta-analysis, Glob. Chang. Biol., 25, 2591–2606, https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14658, 2019. 
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Short summary
The number of meta-analyses in agriculture and soil sciences is continuously rising, but they are often of poor quality. We quantitatively analyzed the quality of 31 meta-analyses studying the effects of different management practices on soil organic carbon (SOC). We found that only one meta-analysis on no tillage/reduced tillage obtained a high score. New or improved meta-analyses on the effects of organic agriculture, biochar, fertilization, and crop diversification on SOC are urgently needed.
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