We, the co‐authors of this letter, are an international group of soil scientists at early career stages, from PhD students to postdoctoral researchers, lecturers, and research fellows with permanent positions. Here, we present our collective musings on soil research challenges and opportunities and, in particular, the points raised by Philippe Baveye (Baveye, 2020a, 2020b) and Johan Bouma (Bouma, 2020) on bypass and hyperbole in soil science. Raising awareness about these issues is a first and necessary step. To this end, we would like to thank Philippe Baveye and Johan Bouma for initiating this debate.

The so‐called “rat‐race” in the scientific publication system, and the associated practices including “bypass” and “hyperbole” as highlighted by Baveye (2020a, 2020b), particularly affect the ability of early career soil scientists to begin and consolidate their careers and to make meaningful contributions to their disciplines. PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, junior and senior lecturers and well‐established professors hold contrasting perspectives on these issues and unequally suffer from the pernicious impacts and imperfections of the current system. We strongly believe that finding and implementing effective and efficient solutions to adjust the system requires the involvement and collective responsibility of the whole soil science community.

我们，这封信的共同作者，是一个国际土壤科学家小组，其职业生涯处于早期阶段，从博士生到博士后研究人员，讲师和具有固定职位的研究员。在这里，我们介绍了有关土壤研究挑战和机遇的集体思路，尤其是Philippe Baveye（Baveye，2020a，2020b）和Johan Bouma（Bouma，2020）在土壤科学中的绕过和夸张提出了观点。提高对这些问题的认识是第一步也是必要的步骤。为此，我们要感谢菲利普·巴维耶（Philippe Baveye）和约翰·布马（Johan Bouma）发起了这场辩论。

Baveye（2020a，2020b）强调科学出版系统中的所谓“竞赛”以及相关实践（包括“绕过”和“夸张” ）会特别影响早期职业土壤科学家的开始和巩固能力他们的职业并为他们的学科做出有意义的贡献。博士生，博士后研究人员，初级和高级讲师以及经验丰富的教授对这些问题持相反的看法，并不平等地遭受了当前系统的有害影响和缺陷。我们坚信，寻找和实施有效且高效的解决方案来调整系统需要整个土壤科学界的参与和集体责任。