A literature review by Subhradip Bhattacharjee, published in Sustainability, How Did Research on Conservation Agriculture Evolve over the Years? A Bibliometric Analysis. By Subhradip Bhattacharjee et al. Sustainability, 15, 2040 (2023) examines conservation tilage’s place in scientific review.  The figure above shows the annual scientific production in conservation agriculture (CA), which is the more common term for no-till globally, a definition that, in addition to reduced tillage, also includes maintenance of a permanent soil cover and diversification of plant species. 

“Initial years included in the search showed very slow development, and until the early 2000s, the curve started taking a spike. Although in 2003, many documents were published (n= 36), it was short-lived. From 2007, gradual development in the annual number of scientific publications was observed. The number of publications, only ten in 2006, leaped to 32 in 2007, and the curve touched the highest peak of 534 publications in 2020. However, in 2021, a sharp publication decline can be seen when 449 documents were published. The annual growth rate of 21.77 percent in the context of the number of annual scientific productions was also obtained to be considerably high. However, due to the decline of publication in 2021, a steady increase cannot be predicted unless it is confirmed that the decline in 2021 is a temporary dip due to current issues (such as COVID-19) or a permanent decline due to reduced research interest.”