Abstract
This interactive guide summarises best practice principles for creating and using high quality data from citizen science and community science projects. It offers guidance for collating, quality assuring, and managing citizen science data. The aim of the tool is to provide data guidance that can broaden the participation in environmental monitoring, maximise the efficacy of volunteers in citizen science projects so they can contribute good quality marine evidence which is FAIR. Ensuring that data are findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable maximises their impact and increases their longevity, as data users can find and easily use these data for research and data-driven policy, both nationally and internationally. Citizen science, for the purpose of this guide, is defined as the involvement of volunteers in science; they can be involved at any stage of the scientific process. The guide describes volunteer projects in the widest sense, as the guidance which focuses around data creation, management and use, may also be relevant to other non-volunteer projects.
This project was delivered by the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, in partnership with Natural England, and funded by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) through the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment (NCEA) programme.