How do we measure the impact of citizen science projects? Citizen science projects are different from more traditional scientific pursuits and from “standard” projects with specific targets.

A citizen science project can be hugely successful even if it produces no published articles. In fact, it can do so much more: engage a community, transform the landscape, and change public policy. But we do need a way to measure this impact; for purposes of funding, but also for the projects’ self-evaluation.

Kieslinger and colleagues have developed an interesting framework for impact measurement of citizen science. They distinguish between evaluating the process and the outcome, and between the scientific, citizen science, and socio-ecological dimension. The result is a flexible, multidimensional approach to measuring impact, which can be used by funding institutions and by the citizen science projects themselves.

For more information, see: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/enzc9