This chart tracks Soil Carbon researchers over time on a diverging axis. Above the line are researchers who published a Soil Carbon-relevant paper that year (active); below the line are dormant researchers, split into those who published the previous year and those who published only earlier. New entrants join at the base of the active band each year as a teal block. Soil Carbon is the largest pathway by headcount, sitting closest to mainstream soil science. The top envelope is the number actually publishing in the pathway each year.

The useful pattern is how the active band and the dormant floor compare. Soil Carbon currently stands at 15,849 active in 2025 (39% of members) — more than the other six pathways’ active researchers combined. Younger pathways show a steep active band over a shallow dormant floor — the people who arrived are still there — while older or broader ones carry a much deeper dormant pool of past one-time contributors. Watching the top envelope over the years shows whether the pathway is still recruiting and keeping researchers.

Read the active envelope, not the total height. At yearly resolution a skipped publication year reads as “dormant” and a later paper as a return, so the dormant bands overstate permanent exits. The working figure for Soil Carbon is the top line each year, and its slope over 2021–2025 is the real signal.

What the chart shows today

15,849 soil carbon researchers are active as of 2025, which is 39% of all tracked members and more than the other six pathways’ active researchers combined. That dominance is the striking pattern here: no other pathway comes close, and the gap has held through the full 2021-2025 window. The mismatch with the company side is worth noting - the directory currently lists 969 visible companies, led by Biochar at 377 and Enabling Tech at 179, so the field’s largest research population is not yet mirrored by a comparable commercial cluster. If even a fraction of those 15,849 active researchers spin out or hire into industry, soil carbon is the pathway with the deepest talent bench to draw on.

Chart refreshed from our CDR Company Directory. We publish a data-viz read like this twice a week.