Researching or researching with the public? A systematic review on knowledge co-production through citizen science

In this systematic literature review using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses protocol, we analyse 211 articles to identify the commonly studied factors impacting both the scientific and social outcomes of knowledge co-production through citizen science (hereby as ‘scientific and social outcomes’). First, we notice that a similar extent of scholarly attention goes to both outcomes in the academic discourses, and both outcomes are often addressed together. Second, we identify and synthesize twenty-nine variables into three themes, citizens, project settings, and broader context, and we argue these three perspectives need to be jointly analysed to understand knowledge co-production in citizen science. Third, we draw preliminary evidence and call for further empirical evidence to study the conditions of both outcomes. Our conceptual framework informs future studies by identifying the commonly studied factors that can be associated with the social and scientific characterization of knowledge co-produced through citizen science and necessitate further empirical investigations.