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COMMUNITY:
Peer-reviewed article

Peer-reviewed publishing of results from Citizen Science projects

September 26, 2018 | Public Programs

Citizen science (CS) terms the active participation of the general public in scientific research activities. With increasing amounts of information generated by citizen scientists, best practices to go beyond science communication and publish these findings to the scientific community are needed. This letter is a synopsis of authors' personal experiences when publishing results from citizen science projects in peer-reviewed journals, as presented at the Austrian Citizen Science Conference 2018. Here, we address authors' selection criteria for publishing CS data in open-access, peer-reviewed scientific journals as well as barriers encountered during the publishing process. We also outline factors that influence the probability of publication using CS data, including 1) funding to cover publication costs; 2) quality, quantity and scientific novelty of CS data; 3) recommendations to acknowledge contributions of citizen scientists in scientific, peer-reviewed publications; 4) citizen scientists' preference of the hands-on experience over the product (publication) and 5) bias among scientists for certain data sources and the scientific jargon. These experiences show that addressing these barriers could greatly increase the rate of CS data included in scientific publications.

TEAM MEMBERS

  • Gabriele Gadermaier
    Author
    University of Salzburg
  • Daniel Dorler
    Author
    University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
  • Florian Heigl
    Author
    University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences
  • Stefan Mayr
    Author
    University of Innsbruck
  • Johannes Rudisser
    Author
  • Robert Brodschneider
    Author
    University of Graz
  • Christine Marizzi
    Author
    Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
  • Citation

    ISSN : 1824-2049
    DOI : 0.22323/2.17030101
    Publication Name: Journal of Science Communication
    Volume: 17
    Number: 3
    Resource Type: Research Products
    Discipline: General STEM
    Audience: General Public | Museum/ISE Professionals | Scientists
    Environment Type: Public Programs | Citizen Science Programs

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