Yakov Kuzyakov is a soil scientist who works at the University of Göttingen at the Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems department. He is also affiliated with the RUDN Universityhttps://eng.rudn.ru/science/rudn-scientists/yakov-kuzyakov/ Since September 2026, four of his papers have been retracted due to serious ethical violations during the peer review and editorial process.
Research and career Kuzyakov graduated in 1986 from the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg in Halle, Germany. In 1990, he defended his PhD thesis at the Russian State Agrarian University – Moscow Timiryazev Agricultural Academy under the supervision of Alexey Fokin. From 1990 to 1993, he headed the radioisotopic laboratory at the same institute. In 1993, Kuzyakov continued his research at the Humboldt University of Berlin and the Leibniz Institute of Vegetable and Ornamental Crops in Germany. He completed his habilitation at the University of Hohenheim in 1997, under the supervision of Karl Stahr. In 2006, he took up a professorship at the department of Agroecosystem Research at the University of Bayreuth. Since 2011, he has headed the department of Soil Science of Temperate Ecosystems and the department of Agricultural Soil Science at the University of Göttingen.
Controversies
In 2026, his work came under scrutiny for unethical behavior. As an editor for the Elsevier European Journal of Soil Biology, he edited several of his own papers. As of September 2026, three of the papers in that journal that he authored and edited himself were retracted. All three papers had also been reviewed by at least one reviewer closely linked to him, compromising the editorial process. A fourth paper he authored in a second Elsevier journal, Science of the Total Environment, was retracted due to suspicious changes in authors on the paper during the review process.
Scientific achievements Kuzyakov was a highly cited researcher in the field of Agricultural Sciences between 2015 and 2020, and was included in the list of the most cited Russian scientists in 2017. Currently, Yakov has published more than 1123 scientific papers, giving him a H-index of 148. He is the author of 60+ scientific reviews and has several papers that are highly cited. Four of his papers published in Soil Biology and Biochemistry have been listed as the most cited over the last 50 years
Research interests Kuzyakov specialises in soil ecology and soil biogeochemistry (lipids, low molecular organic substances), agriculture, land use, agroecology, C and N cycles, priming effects, soil-plant interactions (rhizosphere processes), in-depth study of rhizodeposition, partitioning of CO2 fluxes from soil and application of radioactive and stable isotope labelling approaches in soil science.
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