Integrate Your CitSci Project with SciStarter to Reach More People

Are you a project leader using the CitSci app or website? If so, you’re part of a global community using an open-source platform to create, manage, and analyze data from citizen science projects. Whether you’re a researcher, educator, community member, or hobbyist, CitSci provides tools to build data collection forms, visualize data, engage participants, and monitor scientific efforts—all in one place.

Now, you can supercharge your outreach by enabling integration with SciStarter, the world’s most comprehensive catalog of citizen science projects, events, and programs. SciStarter is designed to connect the public with opportunities to participate in real scientific research—and it supports a vast ecosystem of partners including libraries, schools, museums, federal agencies, media outlets, and more. 

In other words, by integrating your project with SciStarter, you’ll reach more people.

What Does Integration Mean?

Connecting your CitSci project with SciStarter helps you reach more participants, increase your visibility, and strengthen your impact—all with minimal extra effort.

Here’s what you gain when you enable integration:

🔵Wider Discovery: Your project becomes part of a global citizen science database and is featured on SciStarter, ScienceNearMe.org, and partner platforms like PBS SciGirls, Cornerstones of Science, and public libraries.

🔵Targeted Recruitment: Reach potential volunteers based on location, interests, age, and skills. SciStarter even offers a People Finder tool to help you invite users near your project location.

🔵Support and Promotion: Access tools to promote your project, connect with educators and corporate volunteer groups, and potentially be featured in newsletters or media.

🔵Participation Insights: SciStarter helps track volunteer engagement across platforms, making it easier to demonstrate impact to funders, partners, and your community. Volunteers will see frequency stats about their contributions (number and amount of contributions) to CitSci projects in their SciStarter dashboard.

🔵Whether you’re running a local tree mapping project or studying global bird migrations, SciStarter makes it easier for the public to find your work—and for you to find committed participants.

 How CitSci–SciStarter Integration Works

When you publish your project on CitSci, you have the option to enable SciStarter integration. Here’s how it works:

🔵By default, integration is OFF when you create a new draft project.

🔵Once your project is published, you can turn integration ON at any time by clicking “edit project” and toggling the integration to “on.” See below!

🔵Once enabled, your project’s metadata is automatically submitted to SciStarter via an API.  Metadata includes your CitSci project name, identifier, URL, about, goals, tasks, Facebook link, organizations, banner image, your first and last name, and email.

🔵Note: your project location (which on CitSci is usually the project’s headquarters) will NOT be sent to SciStarter. Please note where people can do the project in your project’s “about” description.

🔵Any future updates you make on CitSci will also automatically sync to SciStarter.

If you disable the integration at any time, your project will no longer appear on SciStarter. The status of the project on SciStarter  will be changed to “hidden,” which means it will not be publicly viewable or searchable in SciStarter’s catalog or on partner platforms.

You can re-enable the integration at any time, and your project will once again be visible and discoverable on SciStarter.

⚠️ Please note that integration does not guarantee publication. SciStarter’s editorial team will review each submission to ensure it meets their criteria (outlined below).

In the future, CitSci admins may help review SciStarter submissions, but for now, SciStarter handles all approvals manually.

Integration means that your project will be included in the SciStarter affiliate program. When a user has both a CitSci account and a SciStarter account made under the same email address, they’re able to see the number and frequency of their data contributions to their CitSci and other projects they contribute to in their SciStarter dashboard, within 24 hours of a contribution. SciStarter users really like this, because it helps them get credit for Girl Scout badges, volunteer certificates at work, and more, across different citizen science projects and platforms. 

What to Include So Your Project Gets Approved

SciStarter uses a set of editorial criteria to decide which projects are published. To improve your project’s chances of approval, make sure it meets the following:

1. It Contributes to Science

Your project must address a real scientific question or support an active research effort. This distinguishes citizen science from general STEM learning or outreach. Examples:

🔵Measuring microplastics in waterways

🔵Identifying species from trail camera photos

🔵Tracking air quality in neighborhoods

SciStarter and CitSci are not a repositories for educational resources, fundraising campaigns, or passive learning tools.

2. It Involves Public Participation

Citizen science depends on volunteers meaningfully contributing to scientific research. Projects should involve the public in activities like:

🔵Making observations

🔵Collecting data

🔵Analyzing results

🔵Sharing local knowledge

Projects with no role for volunteers or that only present completed findings will not be approved.

3. It’s Clear and Accessible

Make sure your instructions are easy to follow and that your audience knows what to expect. Be sure to include:

🔵A compelling title and clear project description

🔵A step-by-step guide for participation

🔵Target audience and required skills (if any)

🔵Location info (online, global, local, etc.)

🔵A link to where participants can get started

🔵Images or videos to help your project stand out

You can review SciStarter’s Cataloguing Guidelines to see what fields are used to organize projects for discovery.

How To Get Started

To enable SciStarter Integration on CitSci:

1. Publish your project on CitSci.org.
2. From your project’s edit page, locate the SciStarter Integration toggle (right side) and turn it ON.
3. Your project will be submitted to SciStarter’s editorial team for review.
4. You’ll be contacted by email once your project is approved, or if revisions are needed.

Final Thoughts

The CitSci–SciStarter integration makes it easier than ever to connect your work to the global citizen science movement. With just a few clicks, your project can gain new visibility, attract new participants, and become part of a larger effort to advance science through public participation.

Ready to grow your project? Log onto CitSci, publish your project, and enable SciStarter integration today!