Approximately 1 billion ha of the global land surface is currently salt-affected, representing about 7% of the earth's land surface. Whereas most of it results from natural geochemical processes, an estimated 30% of irrigated lands globally are salt-affected through secondary human-induced salinization. Application of lower quality, alternative irrigation water is further threatening expansion of the areal extent of soil salinity, in addition to climate change causing increases of salt-water intrusion in coastal areas and increasing crop water requirements. The reduced availability of freshwater resources for irrigation, the continued reduction of the world's cultivated agricultural area by land degradation and urbanization, in conjunction with a growing world population further complicates the problem seeking sustainable solutions. This scoping review prioritizes critical knowledge gaps and makes recommendations for 10 priorities in soil salinity research toward a sustainable and productive agricultural system for a food-secure future world. We also include basin-specific case studies that illustrate progress of the world's major irrigated areas in addressing impacts of soil salinization. By identifying research priorities, we seek to accelerate enhanced research funding to bring new knowledge and innovative solutions toward mitigation of soil salinity impacts. We further want to inspire the science community to develop new directions in salinity research.Fil: Hopmans, Jan W. University of California. Department of Land, Air and Water Resources; Estados UnidosFil: Qureshi A.S. International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). Irrigation and Water Management; Emiratos Árabes UnidosFil: Kisekka I. University of California. Department of Land, Air and Water Resources; Estados UnidosFil: Munns R. CSIRO Agriculture and Food; AustraliaFil: Munns R. University of Western Australia. School of Molecular Sciences. ARC Centre of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology; AustraliaFil: Grattan S.R. University of California. Department of Land, Air and Water Resources; Estados UnidosFil: Rengasamy P. University of Adelaide. School of Agriculture, Food and Wine; AustraliaFil: Ben-Gal A. Agricultural Research Organization. Soil, Water and Environmental Sciences; IsraelFil: Assouline S. Agricultural Research Organization. Department of Environmental Physics and Irrigation; IsraelFil: Javaux M. Université catholique de Louvain. Earth and Life Institute; BélgicaFil: Minhas P.S. ICAR Central Soil Salinity Research Institute; IndiaFil: Raats P.A.C. Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR); Países BajosFil: Skaggs T.H. United States Salinity Laboratory. USDA Agricultural Research Service; Estados UnidosFil: Wang G. China Agricultural University. Department of Soil and Water Sciences; ChinaFil: De Jong van Lier Q. University of São Paulo. CENA; BrasilFil: Jiao H. China Agricultural University. Department of Soil and Water Sciences; ChinaFil: Lavado R.S. Universidad de Buenos Aires and INBA—CONICET/UBA; ArgentinaFil: Lazarovitch N. Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research. French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Dryland; IsraelFil: Li B. China Agricultural University. Department of Soil and Water Sciences; ChinaFil: Taleisnik E. Universidad Católica de Córdoba. CONICET, IFRGV-CIAP INTA and Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias; Argentina