The study quantifies global soil carbon (C) research trends and the proportional focus on soil organic C (SOC) and soil inorganic C (SIC) pools through a bibliometric analysis. Despite SOC receiving 96% of publications and citations, SIC, which is a long-lived pool with a turnover rate of over 1000 years, is understudied. The research highlights that while SOC studies have a higher impact per publication, SIC studies have a higher impact per citation. The study also reveals that approximately 40% of soil C research is related to climate change, with SOC studies having a higher impact in this area. The research is concentrated in a few countries, with China and the USA contributing 45% of the total research. The study calls for expanding the focus on SIC in research, applications, and modeling to better understand its role in the global C cycle and climate change mitigation.The study quantifies global soil carbon (C) research trends and the proportional focus on soil organic C (SOC) and soil inorganic C (SIC) pools through a bibliometric analysis. Despite SOC receiving 96% of publications and citations, SIC, which is a long-lived pool with a turnover rate of over 1000 years, is understudied. The research highlights that while SOC studies have a higher impact per publication, SIC studies have a higher impact per citation. The study also reveals that approximately 40% of soil C research is related to climate change, with SOC studies having a higher impact in this area. The research is concentrated in a few countries, with China and the USA contributing 45% of the total research. The study calls for expanding the focus on SIC in research, applications, and modeling to better understand its role in the global C cycle and climate change mitigation.