Focus and Scope

Terra Latinoamericana is a continuous publication journal. The main objective is to publish original scientific articles conducted by specialists in the Soil and Water Science community around the world. All sections are subject to a peer evaluation process, in the double-blind mode. It is available digitally for consultation in open access files.

Terra Latinoamericana is the dissemination mean of the Mexican Society of Soil Science, A.C. (SMCS) since September 1983; however, it is not limited to publishing the results of the research conducted in Mexico, but goes beyond, including all Latin American and countries around the world. Terra Latinoamericana publish articles, research notes, reviews, essays, reviews, memoirs and letters to the editor, in order to disseminate the results of unpublished scientific and technological research, carried out by specialists in soil and water science, coupled with a holistic approach that lies in the understanding of agrosystems, which is why fields related to edaphology are considered in order to understand the soil and water systems.

Contributions associated with soil and water sciences will be accepted for review and possible publication if they consider any of the following topics, 1) Soil Ecology, a broad and multidisciplinary field that includes the physical, chemical, biological, and ecological aspects of soil as a living system. This main topic includes, among others, a) Soil biodiversity (microbial diversity - bacteria, fungi, archaea - and their functionality; soil fauna - earthworms, arthropods, nematodes - and their interactions; genomics and metagenomics of soil microorganisms; native soil species in tropical and subtropical systems); b) Ecological processes in soil (biogeochemical cycles - carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus - decomposition processes, and organic matter formation; plant-microorganism interactions - rhizosphere; carbon dynamics in agricultural and forest systems); c) Climate change impacts (carbon sequestration and climate change mitigation; resilience of soil ecosystems to environmental changes; effects of climate change on soil biodiversity; adaptation of agricultural systems to climate change); d) Soil management and conservation practices (sustainable and regenerative agriculture; impact of tillage and fertilization practices on soil ecology; crop rotation and cover crops; restoration of degraded soils - mining, erosion, salinity); e) Soils in natural and urban ecosystems (soil as a habitat in tropical forests, deserts, and wetlands; soil fragmentation and biodiversity loss in urban areas; evaluation of soil ecosystem services; soil restoration in altered ecosystems); f) Soil contamination and health (impacts of heavy metals, pesticides, and emerging contaminants; bioremediation and phytoremediation of contaminated soils; soil health as a foundation for food security; evaluation of ecological and toxicological risks); g) Methodologies and technologies for soil study (molecular analysis techniques for studying microbial communities; innovations in sensors and remote sensing for soil monitoring; soil ecological models and simulations; applications of artificial intelligence in soil studies); and h) Policy and education in soil ecology (sustainable soil management strategies in public policies; integration of soil ecology into educational programs; valuation of traditional knowledge and culture in soil management). 2) Immersive Technologies, which include tools such as virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), specialized topics like artificial intelligence (AI), mathematical modeling, tools and applications for web and mobile devices, and multimedia creation tools focused on soil sciences. Given the journal's focus on agricultural, environmental, and social sciences, immersive technologies are centered on relevant topics such as, a) Immersive technologies in agriculture and soil management (simulation of agricultural scenarios with VR for farmer training, use of AR for in situ soil analysis and detection of nutrients or contaminants, immersive visualization of remote sensing data and crop monitoring in real time, virtual models of integrated pest management and agroecological systems); b) Environmental education and training with immersive technologies (creation of virtual environments to teach about soil biodiversity and ecosystems, immersive experiences in natural parks or reserves to promote conservation, AR as a tool to convey indigenous and traditional knowledge about resource management, development of immersive simulators for sustainable agriculture training); c) Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and augmented reality (integration of GIS and AR for interactive visualization of soil, water, and vegetation maps; AR applications for land-use planning in rural and urban areas; immersive models for decision-making in natural resource management); d) Ecosystem restoration and virtual modeling (simulation of ecological processes in virtual environments to plan soil restoration, immersive recreation of degraded landscapes and projections of their recovery, immersive VR visualization of future climate scenarios to raise awareness about desertification and climate change); e) Immersive technologies in community participation (use of VR/AR to engage communities in soil and resource management projects, immersive experiences to raise societal awareness about environmental and agroecological issues, interactive simulations for conflict resolution regarding land use); f) Climate change and agricultural resilience (immersive models to demonstrate the impact of climate change on agriculture and ecosystems, AR for optimizing agricultural resilience to extreme events - droughts, floods - and immersive tools to communicate climate risks to farmers and decision-makers); g) Landscape architecture and territorial planning (design of sustainable landscapes using VR/AR to model interactions between natural and human elements, interactive visualization of biological corridors or conservation areas, immersive evaluation of infrastructure projects and their environmental impact); h) Technological innovations and local development (accessibility and adaptation of immersive technologies for rural contexts in Latin America, use of low-cost devices to promote the adoption of VR and AR in agricultural communities, immersive technologies as tools to preserve and disseminate traditional agricultural practices); i) Social sciences and environmental perception (study of how immersive experiences influence environmental perception and sustainable management decisions, AR applications to map and resolve social conflicts related to land use, use of immersive simulations to evaluate public policies in territorial management); and j) Ethical and technological challenges (ethical implications of immersive technology use in rural contexts and vulnerable communities, technological gaps and strategies to overcome adoption barriers, evaluation of social and environmental impacts of immersive technology implementation). 3) Territorial, Sociocultural, and Rural Studies and Soil Management combines multiple disciplines to address the challenges of interactions between land use, communities, and ecosystems. These focus on theoretical and applied research integrating environmental, social, economic, and political perspectives, with potential topics such as, a) Soil governance and management (governance strategies for sustainable soil management, public policies and their impact on soil use and conservation, territorial conflicts related to land access and use, land tenure and social equity in rural areas); b) Agrarian systems and rural development (transformation of traditional agrarian systems in response to modernization, analysis of sustainable agricultural practices in rural communities, studies on agrobiodiversity and its relationship with soil management, impact of agribusiness on rural landscapes and social structures); c) Indigenous territories and traditional knowledge (traditional soil management in indigenous communities, rescue of ancestral practices for soil and water conservation, territorial dynamics in contexts of indigenous autonomy, effects of state policies on indigenous territories and their soils); d) Climate change challenges (adaptation of rural communities to soil degradation caused by climate change, territorial resilience to droughts, floods, and other climatic phenomena, carbon sequestration in rural systems and its relationship with global policies, impact of climate change on food security and land use); e) Desertification and soil restoration (desertification processes in rural territories and mitigation strategies, ecological restoration in degraded areas: integration of local communities, participatory models for soil management and recovery, use of technologies for evaluating and monitoring soil degradation); f) Urban-rural and peri-urban studies (changes in land use in peri-urban areas, impacts of urbanization on agricultural soils and ecosystems, rural-urban connectivity in territorial systems, urban pressure on rural territories: loss of fertile soils); g) Sociocultural impacts of land use (sociocultural changes stemming from territorial transformation, relationship between cultural identity and soil management practices, rural migration and its effects on land use and landscapes, rural tourism and its impact on territory conservation); h) Rural economy and sustainability (impact of global markets on soil management in rural regions, peasant economy and its contribution to sustainable soil management, models of agroecological production and their economic viability, payment for ecosystem services in rural areas); i) Education and community participation (strategies for rural education on sustainable soil management, community participation in soil conservation and management projects, social innovations for sustainable territorial management, participatory methods for land-use evaluation); j) Landscape conservation and ecosystem services (analysis of ecosystem services associated with soil management, integration of local communities in rural landscape conservation, ecological connectivity and functionality of rural landscapes, territorial models for the conservation of productive areas); k) Geopolitics and territorial conflicts (expansion of the agricultural frontier and its socio-environmental implications, impact of extractive activities (mining, oil) on soil management, analysis of land conflicts in rural and indigenous territories, geopolitics of natural resources and soil as a strategic resource); and l) Technologies and territorial monitoring (use of GIS and remote sensing systems for soil use analysis, spatial models for sustainable territorial planning, integration of immersive technologies in rural and sociocultural studies, technological innovations for participatory soil monitoring). 4) Hydrology and Water Resources (hydrological cycle and its relationship with soil, recharge and management of aquifers, dynamics of surface runoff and infiltration, water erosion and its impact on soil quality). 5) Hydraulics Applied to Soils and Agriculture (design and management of irrigation systems - traditional and modernized -, water use efficiency in agricultural soils, interactions between hydraulic structures and soil). 6) Water Quality and its Interaction with Soil (water contaminants and their impact on soils, physicochemical and biological analysis of water for agricultural use, natural soil filtration as a purification system). 7) Treatment and Reuse of Wastewater (decentralized treatment systems for agricultural use, reuse of treated water in agricultural production and degraded soils, impact of treated wastewater on soil quality). 8) Water Footprint and Sustainability (evaluation of water footprint in crops and its relationship with soil, strategies to reduce water consumption in agricultural systems, sustainable water and soil management in the face of climate change). 9) Innovative Agricultural Production Systems Related to Water and Soil (hydroponics: water and nutrient management in the absence of soil, aquaponics: integration of soils in filtration systems, agroforestry systems and their water management). 10) Water-Soil Interactions in Natural Ecosystems (regulation of water flow in forest soils and wetlands, the role of soil in carbon sequestration and water storage, the impact of soil degradation on water availability). 11) Social and Economic Impacts Related to Water and Soil (water governance in agricultural and rural areas, equitable access to water resources for soil management, economic valuation of water-soil ecosystem services). 12) Emerging Technologies and Digital Tools (computational models to simulate water-soil dynamics, use of sensors to monitor soil moisture and water consumption, artificial intelligence and big data in integrated water-soil management).

If a contribution is submitted with another topic related to soil and water sciences, the editorial committee will evaluate its content and determine whether is accepted for its peer review process.

Terra Latinoamericana publishes in Spanish, Portuguese, French and English. All articles that are not published in English, include the title, abstract, keywords, table titles and figures in English. Published contributions are the sole responsibility of the authors.

Terra Latinoamericana publishes original academic material. The academic level of informed research is appropriate for a technical, professional, postgraduate, and postdoctoral research audience.

The partial or total reproduction of this journal is authorized, citing it as a source of information.

Content significance

The content of Terra Latinoamericana is of interest, importance, and value for its readers, since the main topic it addresses on soil and water issues is raised by only 0.15 and 0.44 %, respectively of the international journals included in InCites Journal Citation Reports of Clarivate^TM. The content of the journal is displayed on specialized topics, with a new perspective, regional, national, and international focus that undoubtedly enriches the breadth of coverage.