EPJ Plus Focus Point: Marine Citizen Science – Applications, Processes, and Data Integration

Details

Published on 04 March 2026

Guest Editors: Viviana Piermattei, Giovanni Coppini, Manel Grifoll

This EPJ Plus Focus Point on Marine Citizen Science – Applications, Processes, and Data Integration focuses on the scientific and methodological advances in all areas of ocean and coastal research where citizen science can be shown to expand monitoring capacity and complement traditional observing systems. It specifically addresses challenges related to data quality, validation, and integration, and explores the role of participatory science in model validation, forecasting, and digital twins of the ocean. This collection also examines topics demonstrating strong connections between methodological, environmental or societal issues. By bridging communities and scientists, this collection contributes to building inclusive, resilient, and forward-looking ocean observing systems aligned with the objectives of the UN Ocean Decade and the CoastPredict program.

Submission Details:

Articles should be submitted via the journal's online submission system and clearly identified as intended for the topical issue “Marine Citizen Science – Applications, Processes, and Data Integration”.

Detailed author guidelines, including information on paper types, are available in the Submission Guidelines. For manuscript preparation, authors are encouraged to use the journal’s dedicated LaTeX template (preferably in single-column format).

Open Access: EPJ Plus is a hybrid journal offering Open Access publication via the Open Choice programme and a growing number of Open Access Agreements. If the institution of the CORRESPONDING AUTHOR is part of such an agreement, the Open Access fee may be covered by the agreement partner. All agreements are listed with more details under Open Access Agreements. Eligibility will be verified when the corresponding author is requested to complete the relevant affiliation information after acceptance of the paper during the production process. Corresponding authors not affiliated to institutes with Transformative Agreements are redirected to proceed with “Please select your publishing model” and will have to decide between paying the current Open Access fee or choosing the subscription option without any publication charges.