Submission Deadline: Friday, 1 May 2026

Traditionally focused on soil-forming factors, processes, and outcomes, Pedology provides critical insights into soil functionality. As the basic precepts of Pedology are becoming evident to other land based applied sciences — from contaminant transport to climate change to geoarchaeology — there is an increasing recognition of the informational gain obtained through adopting and adapting Pedology as a tool for contextualizing and interpreting field observations.

Nevertheless, while much of the advancement in theoretical Pedology can help address practical issues, primarily in agriculture and civil engineering, there is a growing disconnect between the conceptual understanding of soil as an evolving natural body and the systematic collection, integration, and interpretation of data in applied soil studies, with significant implications for decision-making in the contexts of climate change, food security, and environmental quality.

This special collection aims to bring together research results, opinions, and perspectives to highlight the historical and current role of Pedology across multiple research disciplines, thus raising awareness of the critical value of employing pedological principles when defining and interpreting soil-centric research.

Manuscripts could address theoretical or applied lines of inquiry. Local, regional, and global perspectives are welcome.

The Special Issue is framed within the IUSS initiatives of the 2025-2034 Decade of Soil Sciences for Sustainable Development (DSSSD). The DSSSD is a strategic initiative highlighting the critical role of soil health for humanity. The programme aims to prioritize production, dissemination, and use of actionable scientific knowledge, and promote solutions to support the achievement of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (https://www.iuss.org/decade-of-soil-sciences-for-sustainable-development).

Topics of interest for this call for papers include but are not restricted to:

• Pedology based frameworks for defining applied sciences research;

• Pedology central to the development of testable hypotheses for applied soil sciences;

• Critical role of pedology for understanding landscape evolution;

• Understanding soil carbon dynamics through a pedological lens;

• Soil functions research informed by pedological concepts;

• Pedology for geoarchaeology — practical applications;

• Utility of soil classification in the interpretation of climate change impacts;

• Pedological tools to support agricultural research;

• Pedology, land use and conversion;

• Pedology underpinnings of effective large data-based soil research, in agriculture, forestry;

• Pedology for understanding soil degradation risks and remediation options;

• Pedology for understanding soil hydrology;

• Pedology informing the management of extreme and marginal lands (permafrost, saline, arid, acid, etc.);

• Pedology in urban environment;

• Pedology for soil carbon sequestration strategies;

• Pedology as a tool to enhance human health.

Guest Editors:

Prof. Curtis Monger (Lead)
New Mexico State University,
nited States

Dr. Edoardo A. C. Costantini
CNR-IBE,
Italy

Prof. Rosa M. Poch
Universitat de Lleida,
Spain

Prof. Daniela Sauer
University of Göttingen,
Germany

Dr. Maria Bronnikova
Texas Tech University,
United States

Prof. John Galbraith
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University,
United States

Prof. J. J. Lelis Leal de Souza
Universidade Federal de Vicosa,
Brazil

Keywords:

Pedogenesis; Soil functions; Soil Carbon Dynamics; Soil Hydrology; Landscape Evolution; Soil Classification; Soils under Climate Change; Soils under Land-Use Conversion; Soil Degradation and Remediation; Soils and Human Health.