Literature
What scientific definitions of citizen science are there? How can citizen scientists be motivated and how can citizen science work in schools? There is now all sorts of Citizen Science literature available: from special issues of scientific journals to workshop reports from Citizen Science platforms and individual scientific publications. A small selection can be found on this page.
If you think an important publication is missing from this overview, please send us an e-mail to citizenscience@oead.at.
Individual Publications
Overview of Citizen Science (inter)national
- OeAD-Zentrum für Citizen Science (2019): Citizen Science. Initiativen, Netzwerke, Plattformen, Förderungen.
Citizen Science Guides
- Schrögel, P. (2025). Ein Leitfaden für Partizipation in der Forschung. PartWiss.
- Science et Cité; Citizen Science Zürich. (2024). Citizen-Science-Checkliste: Dein Projektleitfaden. Zenodo.
- Magalhães, J., Matozinhos, K., Navalhas, I., Luís, C., Pelacho, M., Leguina, L., Elorza, A., Lacunza, I., Tola, E., & Arias, R. (2023). Guide of science communication in citizen science projects and citizen science journalism (Deliverable 5.3). Zenodo.
- GEWISS (2016): CS für alle - Eine Handreichung für CS - Beteiligte.
- Pocock, M.J.O., Chapman, D.S., Sheppard, L.J. & Roy, H.E. (2014).Choosing and Using Citizen Science: a guide to when and how to use citizen science to monitor biodiversity and the environment.
- Tweddle, J.C., Robinson, L.D., Pocock, M.J. & Roy, H.E (2012): Guide to citizen science: developing, implementing and evaluating citizen science to study biodiversity and the environment in the UK.
Definitions
- ECSA (European Citizen Science Association) (2020): ECSA’s characteristics of citizen science.
- ECSA (European Citizen Science Association) (2020): ECSA’s characteristics of citizen science: explanation notes.
- Eitzel, M. V., Cappadonna, J. L., Santos-Lang, C., Duerr, R. E., Virapongse, A., et al. (2017): Citizen Science Terminology Matters: Exploring Key Terms.
- ECSA (European Citizen Science Association) (2015): Ten Principles of Citizen Science.
- Kullenberg, C. & Kasperowski, D. (2016): What Is Citizen Science? – A Scientometric Meta-Analysis.
- Haklay, M. (2013): Citizen Science and Volunteered Geographic Information: Overview and Typology of Participation.
- Bonney, R., Ballard, H., Jordan, R., McCallie, E., Phillips, T., Shirk, J. et al. (2009): Public Participation in Scientific Research: Defining the Field and Assessing Its Potential for Informal Science Education.
Fails in Citizen Science
- Westreicher, F., Cieslinski, M., Ernst, M., Frigerio, D., Heinisch, B., Hübner, T. & Rüdisser, J. (2021). Recognizing failures in citizen science projects: Lessons learned. Proceedings of Science. 007.
Law & Data
- Reckling, Tobias, Hofer, Annemarie, Dörler, Daniel, & Heigl, Florian. (2018, May 24): Empfehlungskatalog für juristische Fragen in Citizen Science Projekten (Version 1).
- Wiggins, A., Bonney, R., Graham, E., Henderson, S., Kelling, S., LeBuhn, G., et al. (2013): Data management guide for public participation in scientific research.
- The Center for Citizen Science organised in 2018 and 2019 two events on the topic of Citizen Science and Law together with other institutions: Follow-up report on the event about the General Data Protection Regulation (in German), follow-up report on the event about image rights (in German).
Participation of Citizen Scientists
- Poetz, M. K., & Sauermann, H. (2024): How And When To Involve Crowds In Scientific Research. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
- Stefanie Schuerz, Teresa Schaefer, Barbara Kieslinger (2024): The impact of citizen science: 12 stories from across Europe.
- Liñán, S. et al. (2022): A new theoretical engagement framework for citizen science projects: using a multi-temporal approach to address long-term public engagement challenges
- Füchslin, T., Schäfer, M.S., Metag, J. (2019): Who wants to be a citizen scientist? Identifying the potential of citizen science and target segments in Switzerland.
- Geoghegan, H., Dyke, A., Pateman, R., West, S. & Everett, G. (2016): Understanding motivations for citizen science.
- OeAD Center for Citizen Science (2022): Dokumentation zum Themenschwerpunkt "Hard-to-reach-groups"
Schools & Learning
- See a growing list of resources on the page “Citizen Science and Schools”
- Cieslinski, M., Heinzelreiter-Wallner, G., Scheuch, M., Siegele, P., Ernst, M., Frigerio, D., Grabner, M., Hofer, A., Lampert, P., Mädge, A.-L., Mattenberger, H., Pany, P., Pirker, H., Steurer, W., Wagner, S., & Westreicher, F. (2021). Citizen Science – Forschen mit Schulen. Grundlagen, Empfehlungen & praktische Tipps für gemeinsame Projekte. Zenodo.
- Scheuch, M., Panhuber, T., Winter, S., Kelemen-Finan, J., Bardy-Durchhalter, M., & Kapelari, S. (2018): Butterflies & wild bees: biology teachers’ PCK development through citizen science.
- Kelemen-Finan, J., Scheuch, M., Bardy-Durchhalter, M., Stoeckl, N. & Winter, S. (2016): Maßnahmenprogramm für die Verankerung von Citizen Science im Lehrplan und in der Aus- und Weiterbildung der Lehrpersonen.
- Phillips, T., Ferguson M., Minarchek, M., Porticella, N., Bonney, R. (2014): User’s Guide for Evaluating Learning Outcomes in Citizen Science.
- Cieslinski, M., Heinzelreiter-Wallner, G., Scheuch, M., Siegele, P., Ernst, M., Frigerio, D., Grabner, M., Hofer, A., Lampert, P., Mädge, A.-L., Mattenberger, H., Pany, P., Pirker, H., Steurer, W., Wagner, S., & Westreicher, F. (2021). Citizen Science – Forschen mit Schulen. Grundlagen, Empfehlungen & praktische Tipps für gemeinsame Projekte. Zenodo.
Sustainable Development Goals
- Fraisl, D., Campbell, J., See, L. et al. (2020): Mapping citizen science contributions to the UN sustainable development goals.
Policy Papers
- OECD (2025), “Embedding citizen science into research policy”, OECD Science, Technology and Industry Policy Papers, No. 175, OECD Publishing, Paris.
- ECSA/ECS Project (2025), “Citizen Science for the future of Europe”
Edited Volumes
- Vohland, K., Land-Zandstra, A., Ceccaroni, L., Lemmens, R., Perelló, J., Ponti, M., Samson, R., Wagenknecht, K. (Eds.) (2021): The Science of Citizen Science.
- Hecker, S., Haklay, M., Bowser, A., Makuch, Z., & Vogel, J. (Eds.). (2018): Citizen Science: Innovation in Open Science, Society and Policy.
- Oswald, K. & Smolarski, R. (Hrsg., 2016): Bürger Künste Wissenschaft. Citizen Science in Kultur & Geisteswissenschaften.
Journals and Compilations
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Bürger schaffen Wissen offers a collection of interesting workshop reports on topics such as research funding, data quality or participation.
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Citizen Science: Theory and Practice is the first open access journal that regularly publishes scientific articles on Citizen Science.
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The European platform EU-Citizen.Science presents guidelines, training material, scientific publications and reports.
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The Journal of Science Communication has published special issues and articles on Citizen Science. 2016, Issue 1; 2016, Issue 3; 2019, Issue 1
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The Conservation Volunteers (TCV) Scotland has written numerous Citizen Science reports on topics such as social media, education and engagement.
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Citizen Science Today presented monthly selected Citizen Science articles from 2015 to 2018. These can still be viewed online today and contain short summaries.