Citizen science participation in research in the environmental sciences: key factors related to projects’ success and longevity

ABSTRACT The potential impacts of citizen science initiatives are increasing across the globe, albeit in an imbalanced manner. In general, there is a strong element of trial and error in most projects, and the comparison of best practices and project structure between different initiatives remains difficult. In Brazil, the participation of volunteers in environmental research is limited. Identifying the factors related to citizen science projects’ success and longevity within a global perspective can contribute for consolidating such practices in the country. In this study, we explore past and present projects, including a case study in Brazil, to identify the spatial and temporal trends of citizen science programs as well as their best practices and challenges. We performed a bibliographic search using Google Scholar and considered results from 2005-2014. Although these results are subjective due to the Google Scholar’s algorithm and ranking criteria, we highlighted factors to compare projects across geographical and disciplinary areas and identified key matches between project proponents and participants, project goals and local priorities, participant profiles and engagement, scientific methods and funding. This approach is a useful starting point for future citizen science projects, allowing for a systematic analysis of potential inconsistencies and shortcomings in this emerging field.

摘要 全球范围内，公众科学（citizen science）项目的潜在影响正不断扩大，但发展态势并不均衡。总体而言，多数项目均带有浓厚的试错色彩，且不同项目间的最佳实践与项目架构对比仍存在较大难度。在巴西，志愿者参与环境研究的情况仍较为有限。从全球视角识别与公众科学项目成功及可持续发展相关的影响因素，有助于在该国推广并巩固此类研究实践。本研究梳理了过往与当前的公众科学项目（含巴西本土案例），旨在识别公众科学项目的时空分布趋势、最佳实践与现存挑战。本研究以谷歌学术（Google Scholar）为工具开展文献检索，筛选了2005年至2014年间的相关研究成果。尽管受谷歌学术的算法与排序规则影响，本次检索结果存在一定主观性，但本研究仍提炼出可用于跨地域、跨学科项目对比的核心要素，并识别出多组关键匹配关系，包括项目发起方与参与者的契合度、项目目标与本地优先事项的匹配度、参与者画像与参与积极性的匹配度，以及科学方法与资金支持的适配性。该研究框架可为未来公众科学项目提供有益的参考起点，也有助于对这一新兴领域中潜在的矛盾与不足开展系统性分析。