Soil science is a relatively young and specialised field of science. This note discusses the use of the h index as a scientific output measure in soil science. We explore the governing factors of h index in soil science: the number of soil scientists, the number of papers published, the average number of citations, and the age of the scientist. We found the average relationship between h index and scientific age for soil science: h = 0.7 t. The h index for soil science is smaller than other major science disciplines but norms for h need to be established