Call for Abstracts: Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums

CITIZEN SCIENCE: THEORY AND PRACTICE

Special Collection: 

Lessons, Challenges, and Opportunities in Participatory Science

from a Galleries, Libraries, Archives, and Museums Perspective

Call for Abstracts

Issue Editors: Laura Trouille¹, Darlene Cavalier², David Sittenfeld³, Thomas Kaarsted⁴,Mia Ridge^5

1 The Adler Planetarium, Zooniverse, Northwestern University, United States
2 Arizona State University, SciStarter, United States
3 Museum of Science, Boston, United States
4 University Library of Southern Denmark and the SDU Citizen Science Knowledge Center
5 British Library, London, UK

Citizen Science: Theory and Practice is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal providing a central space for cross-disciplinary, scholarly exchanges aimed at advancing the field of citizen science by providing a venue for citizen science researchers and practitioners to share best practices in conceiving, developing, implementing, evaluating, and sustaining projects that facilitate public participation in scientific endeavors in any discipline.

ISSUE OVERVIEW:

Museums and libraries worldwide play pivotal roles in enhancing the well-being and progress of their communities, serving as indispensable hubs for educational, informational, health, employment, and cultural resources. Additionally, they bear the responsibility of  preserving, managing, and providing the broadest possible access to the diverse cultural, artistic, historical, natural, and scientific collections entrusted to their care. The magnitude and influence of  museums and libraries are substantial; for instance in the United States alone, there are over 125,000 libraries and 35,000 museums. Annually, over 170 million registered users visited public libraries over 1.35 billion times and a comparable number engaged in 850 million museum visits. 

An increasing number of galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) are actively engaging the public in participatory science endeavors through diverse channels, such as field trips, citizen science kits, exhibit experiences, crowdsourced research initiatives centered around their collections, and other programs, with broad and lasting impact. Research libraries are also building infrastructure and services to connect universities with the public in new ways. 

This Special Collection aims to explore GLAM participatory science efforts in order to support and empower the global field of participatory science. By sharing innovative practices and advancing theories, this collection will contribute to the continued refinement of best practices in these vital ‘third spaces’ and beyond.

Note: here we define participatory sciences as citizen science, community science, community-based monitoring, volunteer research, crowdsourcing, and other efforts that involve members of the public in meaningful and authentic ways in scientific research efforts.

We will consider articles directed to a wide variety of topics relevant to participatory science in GLAMs. We are particularly interested in articles that address the following questions:

• How can GLAM become hubs of participatory science, connecting researchers and communities?
• What roles do GLAM participatory science efforts serve within local, national, and global ecosystems responding to community and civic concerns? 
• What are the challenges and opportunities in scaling GLAM participatory science initiatives while addressing local interests? 
• What inclusive strategies in traditionally exclusive GLAM contexts, such as museums, are successfully leveraging participatory science to build meaningful connections with diverse and broader communities?
• What process and outcome shifts have emerged as a result of incorporating inclusive practices (such as DEIA / Anti-racist practices) in GLAM participatory science efforts? 
• What challenges and opportunities do GLAM participatory science efforts face around community partnerships and engagement?
• What are the challenges and opportunities in training GLAM staff and/or providing training related to participatory science? 
• What are the challenges and opportunities in data collection and carrying out evaluation of GLAM participatory science programming and engagement? 
• How can scientists and subject matter experts be leveraged in support of GLAM participatory science initiatives, and what are the challenges? 
• How can GLAM support formal as well as informal learning for participants through participatory science initiatives?
• What are the similarities and differences in resources, objectives, audiences, approaches, and outcomes between participatory science efforts in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums and how can these differences be distinguished and/or harmonized?
• From a historical perspective, how have GLAM institutions in past centuries engaged the public in scientific inquiry, and what lessons can be drawn from these efforts for today’s participatory science initiatives?

ARTICLE TYPES:

We welcome articles in the following CSTP submission categories:

• Research Papers
• Review and Synthesis Papers
• Case Studies
• Essays
• Methods Papers
• Meeting Reports
• Editorials

Contributions from the Global South and other underrepresented areas in the academic literature on Citizen Science are particularly welcome.

DEADLINES AND LOGISTICS:

For general CSTP submission guidelines, please visit https://theoryandpractice.citizenscienceassociation.org/about/submissions. Important note: the CSTP publication fee is $1600. Waivers are offered on an extremely limited basis following a short application process that demonstrates both need and attempts to source funding elsewhere. Further information on the publication fee and waivers can be found here.  

The preferred method for submitting an Abstract is via this Google form: https://forms.gle/tZmaSEPixgAUUxGaA. However, if you are unable to access or complete the form, submissions will be accepted by email to CSTP-SpecialCollection@zooniverse.org. In your email, please include the following: article type, title, author(s), affiliation(s), abstract (250 word limit), and up to 6 keywords. 

TIMELINE:

• Call for proposals will be published Nov 2024.
• Abstracts will not be accepted after Feb 28, 2025.
• Authors of submitted abstracts will be informed whether they will be invited to submit full papers on a rolling basis through April 18, 2025
• Papers will be due Sept 30, 2025
• Papers will be sent for peer-review once received. All papers will be reviewed by two reviewers and at least one editor.

If you have questions, please email CSTP-SpecialCollection@zooniverse.org.