Citizen science is one of the most innovative scientific methodologies of recent years. This type of research is based on the active participation of non-scientists alongside scientists to take samples, collect and analyze data or to disseminate the activities of researchers. Currently, all around the globe there are already a bunch of scientific projects that are using strategies based on citizen science to obtain results that provide great value.
On the other hand, in 2016, the ‘FAIR Guiding Principles for the Management and Stewardship of Scientific Data‘ were published in Scientific Data, which set out a series of recommendations to improve the Findability, Accessibility, Interoperability and Reusability of digital scientific data. After that, many iniciatives have tried to implement these principles in research practice.
Because citizen science is an innovative strategy, which has not yet penetrated all scientific fields and whose methodology is constantly being updated, the adaptation of practices to the FAIR principles is very relevant for increasing the visibility and reuse of data. In line with our goal of working towards the integration of data from different origins for the future common European Green Deal Data Space (GDDS), driven through several initiatives by the European Commission, we want to understand what is the status of the use of FAIR principles in citizen science practices at the European level.
To this end, we are conducting an open survey adressed to all projects, individuals and initiatives currently working with citizen science data in scientific research. The answers obtained in the survey will be anonymized and analyzed in aggregations to ensure the confidentiality of the data provided.
The results of the survey will help design tools and guidelines to help citizen science projects produce data that meet the FAIR principles by demonstrating both the benefits of this methodology, as well as the effective use of this data in decision making.
If you are working on an initiative that uses citizen science as a research methodology, we encourage you to participate in this survey, which should not take more than 25 minutes to complete.
