--- name: brycewang-stanford/soil-biology-and-biochemistry source: https://app.decimal.ai/s/brycewang-stanford-soil-biology-and-biochemistry@1/SKILL.md source_sha256: 56b18d4153cc --- # Soil Biology & Biochemistry (soil-biology-and-biochemistry) ## Journal positioning Soil Biology & Biochemistry (SBB), published by Elsevier, is the leading journal for the **mechanisms of soil biological and biochemical processes**: soil organic matter dynamics, microbial ecology and function, nutrient cycling, soil carbon, extracellular enzymes, and the biogeochemical processes that soil biota drive. Its defining expectation is **mechanistic process understanding** — evidence about how soil organisms and reactions govern a process, not a descriptive inventory of what is present. A soil survey, a descriptive community census with no process link, or a management trial whose contribution is an agronomic outcome rather than a soil mechanism is a poor fit. This skill is a **fit / venue-selection / re-framing** tool. It does not replace the journal's current author guidelines. Before submitting, re-check the live SBB author guidance. ## When to trigger - The author names SBB and wants a fit/framing check for a soil-process or soil-microbial paper. - A microbial-community or soil-carbon dataset must be re-framed around the **process mechanism** it explains rather than a description of community composition. - The author is choosing between SBB, `agriculture-ecosystems-and-environment` (agroecosystem environmental outcomes), and a broader biogeochemistry venue. - The author needs SBB's desk-reject heuristics and a credible alternative route. ## Scope & topic fit - Soil organic matter formation, stabilization, and decomposition, and the controls on soil carbon persistence. - Soil microbial ecology and function: community assembly, activity, and the links between diversity and process rates. - Nutrient cycling and transformations (C, N, P, S) and the microbial/enzymatic mechanisms behind them. - Extracellular enzymes, microbial physiology, and carbon/nutrient-use efficiency as process drivers. - Soil fauna, the soil microbiome, and biotic interactions where they mechanistically shape soil processes. - Rhizosphere and root–soil–microbe interactions framed around process mechanism. ## Method & evidence bar - The central claim must be a **soil-process mechanism**: evidence that links soil biota or reactions to a measured process rate or pool change, not co-occurrence or description. - Microbial-community data must be tied to function (rates, isotopes, enzyme activity, gene expression), not presented as composition alone; '-omics' needs process-level interpretation. - Incubation and field studies need adequate replication, appropriate controls, and statistics that respect spatial/temporal structure; isotope and tracer work needs proper mass balance. - Process rates and pools require validated methods, reported detection limits/uncertainty, and reproducible analytical protocols. - Sequence data must be deposited with accessions; data and code underpinning the process conclusions should be available per Elsevier policy. ## Structure & house style - Standard IMRaD; the introduction must state the soil-process question and the mechanistic gap, not just the study site or community of interest. - Methods must document soil properties, sampling design, and analytical/incubation protocols in reproducible detail. - Figures should make the mechanism visible (rate–driver relationships, isotopic partitioning, enzyme/process links) with variability and controls shown. - A data-availability statement, sequence accessions, and complete soil metadata are expected; supplementary material carries analytical detail. ## Official-submission checklist - Before giving submission-ready advice, read `../../resources/source-basis.md` and `../../resources/official-source-map.md`; start from the official source anchors, then cite the current Soil Biology & Biochemistry page you checked. - Search the live site for "Soil Biology & Biochemistry guide for authors" and follow the current Elsevier version. - Re-check article types, structure, word/figure expectations, and abstract format. - Confirm sequence-data deposition/accession requirements and the data-availability policy. - Re-check competing-interests, funding, author-contribution, and AI-use disclosure, and open-access terms. - If the live official instructions conflict with this skill, the official instructions win. ## Pre-submission self-check - [ ] The central contribution is a soil-process mechanism, not a descriptive inventory. - [ ] Microbial-community data are tied to function (rates, isotopes, enzymes, expression). - [ ] Replication, controls, and statistics respect spatial/temporal structure; mass balance holds. - [ ] Process rates/pools use validated methods with reported uncertainty and detection limits. - [ ] Sequence accessions and a data-availability statement are prepared. - [ ] Soil metadata and analytical protocols are documented for reproducibility. ## Common desk-reject triggers - A descriptive soil survey or community census with no process mechanism. - Microbial composition reported with no link to a measured process or function. - '-omics' catalogues with no process-level interpretation or validation. - Under-replicated or pseudoreplicated incubations/field studies presented as general. - A management trial whose real contribution is an agronomic outcome, not a soil mechanism. ## Re-routing decision - Agroecosystem environmental outcomes (GHG, nutrient losses, biodiversity) at field-landscape scale → `agriculture-ecosystems-and-environment`. - Crop yield/agronomy and resource-use efficiency is the core → `field-crops-research`. - Sustainability-framed soil/cropping-system synthesis or meta-analysis → `agronomy-for-sustainable-development`. - Large-scale climate/global-change soil-carbon process dominant → `global-change-biology`. - Broad, headline biogeochemistry significance → `nature-communications` or a global-biogeochemistry venue. ## Output format ```text [Fit] High / Medium / Low (one-line reason) [Target] Soil Biology & Biochemistry [Topic tags] <2–3 closest soil-process topics> [Process mechanism] [Method/evidence] [Top risk] [Official items to re-check]
[Re-route suggestion] ```