Community science
A joint Guest Edited Collection from Humanities & Social Sciences Communications and Scientific Reports.
Engaging non-professionals in scientific research not only enables data collection and processing on a scale that would otherwise be impossible; it also fosters public awareness of and interest in science. In some cases, it can even empower communities to take ownership of the question or problem that the research addresses, and to influence the solutions. In recent decades, the widespread adoption of smartphones has both facilitated community-based research and allowed for its integration with artificial intelligence techniques. Whether monitoring biodiversity, building new RNA and protein structures online, or tracking stressors in urban environments, community scientists are invaluable collaborators in natural, medical, and social science fields from astronomy to zoology.
To honour these contributions to scientific progress and encourage further public involvement in research, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications and Scientific Reports are opening a joint call for submissions related to community science. We welcome submissions of primary research in any area of the humanities, behavioural and social sciences, natural sciences, medicine, or engineering that involves data collection and/or processing by members of the public. We also welcome other article types, such as Reviews and Comments, which will be considered for publication only in Humanities & Social Sciences Communications. Authors should refer to the aims and scope of Humanities & Social Sciences Communications and Scientific Reports to determine the most appropriate journal for their manuscript.
Editors
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Núria Castell, PhD
NILU – Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway; Scientific Reports
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Justus Henke, PhD
Institut für Hochschulforschung an der Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany; Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
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Laura Ruiz-Eugenio, PhD
University of Barcelona, Spain; Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
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Willem Takken, PhD
Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands; Scientific Reports
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Di Yang, PhD
University of Wyoming, USA; Scientific Reports
Guest Editors for Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
Justus Henke, PhD, HoF Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
Justus Henke has been a Research Associate at the HoF Halle-Wittenberg since 2012. He studied economics in Berlin and Vienna and holds a PhD in Social Sciences from Oldenburg. His research focuses on science communication, science management, third mission of universities, citizen science, and university financing.
Laura Ruiz-Eugenio, PhD, University of Barcelona, Spain
Laura Ruiz-Eugenio is an Associate Professor at the Department of Theory and History of Education at the University of Barcelona. Her expertise is on the communicative methodology of research, the methodology which has proposed the two main characteristics of current scientific research: co-creation and social impact. Co-creation includes the creation of knowledge through the dialogue among citizens and scientists, based on the inclusive communication of science, made bottom up by citizens. Within this perspective, the evaluation of the social impact research is also co-created bottom-up through the dialogue among scientists and citizens, both face-to-face and on social media.
Former Guest Editor for Humanities & Social Sciences Communications from September 2022 - December 2023:
Marisa Ponti, PhD, University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Guest Editors for Scientific Reports
Núria Castell, PhD, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Norway
Núria Castell is a Senior Scientist at the Norwegian Institute for Air Research (NILU) and Chair of the air quality working group at the European Citizen Science Association (ECSA). Her research interests combine air pollution, citizen science, environmental governance, and sustainable cities. She leads the Technology and Society research group at NILU, which focuses on the uptake and validation of sensor technologies and citizen observations for policy and research, and co-creative experimentation in urban living labs. Dr Castell has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2022.
Willem Takken, PhD, Wageningen University & Research, The Netherlands
Willem Takken is Professor Emeritus at Wageningen University & Research. His specific interest is the role of insects in human and animal disease epidemiology and control. Much of his work was in the tropics, with malaria epidemiology and control central to his interest. He has specialised in the behaviour of mosquitoes, and discovered that human smell is the principle cue with which mosquitoes find their human host. This knowledge is being exploited for the development of novel tools for the prevention and control of several mosquito-borne diseases. Prof Takken has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2022.
Di Yang, PhD, University of Wyoming, USA
Di Yang is an Assistant Professor at Wyoming Geographic Information Science Center, University of Wyoming. Topics she is currently investigating include: incorporating community science and citizen science data into geospatial modelling of extreme events under changing climates, and processing and analysing large ecological and remote sensing databases using geospatial cloud computing (e.g., Google Earth Engine, Microsoft Azure, and Web-GIS) to benefit conservation, resource management, landowners, and policymakers. Dr Yang has been an Editorial Board Member for Scientific Reports since 2022.
