ContextThe concept of citizen science (CS) is currently referred to by many actors inside and outside science and research. Several descriptions of this purportedly new approach of science are often heard in connection with large datasets and the possibilities of mobilizing crowds outside science to assists with observations and classifications. However, other accounts refer to CS as a way of democratizing science, aiding concerned communities in creating data to influence policy and as a way of promoting political decision processes involving environment and health.ObjectiveIn this study we analyse two datasets (N = 1935, N = 633) retrieved from the Web of Science (WoS) with the aim of giving a scientometric description of what the concept of CS entails. We account for its development over time, and what strands of research that has adopted CS and give an assessment of what scientific output has been achieved in CS-related projects. To attain this, scientometric methods have been combined with qualitative approaches to render more precise search terms.ResultsResults indicate that there are three main focal points of CS. The largest is composed of research on biology, conservation and ecology, and utilizes CS mainly as a methodology of collecting and classifying data. A second strand of research has emerged through geographic information research, where citizens participate in the collection of geographic data. Thirdly, there is a line of research relating to the social sciences and epidemiology, which studies and facilitates public participation in relation to environmental issues and health. In terms of scientific output, the largest body of articles are to be found in biology and conservation research. In absolute numbers, the amount of publications generated by CS is low (N = 1935), but over the past decade a new and very productive line of CS based on digital platforms has emerged for the collection and classification of data.

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This article analyzes "happiness studies" as an emerging field of inquiry throughout various scientific disciplines and research areas. Utilizing four operationalized search terms in the Web of Science; "happiness", "subjective well-being", "life satisfaction" and "positive affect", a dataset was created for empirical citation analysis. Combined with qualitative interpretations of the publications, our results show how happiness studies has developed over time, in what journals the citing papers have been published, and which authors and researchers are the most productive within this set. We also trace various trends in happiness studies, such as the social indicators movement, the introduction of positive psychology and various medical and clinical applications of happiness studies. We conclude that "happiness studies" has emerged in many different disciplinary contexts and progressively been integrated and standardized. Moreover, beginning at the turn of the millennium, happiness studies has even begun to shape an autonomous field of inquiry, in which happiness becomes a key research problem for itself. Thus, rather than speaking of a distinct "happiness turn", our study shows that there have been many heterogeneous turns to happiness, departing in a number of different disciplines.

Citizen science is currently heralded by proponents for science and policy in many ways. From a science policy perspective, citizen science is often brought forward as a remedy to 'alternative facts' and to general issues of trust in science and politics. In many cases citizen science has been promoted in sociotechnical imaginaries of creating the 'open society' by democratizing science, facilitating scientific literacy, often via digital technologies and networking (Holocher-Ertl and ZSI, 2013; Nascimento et al., 2014). Here, an imaginary from science policy has emerged, one wherein citizen science is meant to "enable citizens and citizen groups to participate in evidence-based policy and decision-making" (Lamy, 2017:19). However, in contrast to such general accounts, this special issue seeks to unpack citizen science, and instead approach it not as one, but as several different modes of social epistemologies. These diverse modes also instantiate a wide range of imagined epistemic agents; 'the citizen' , 'the volunteer' , 'the participant' , 'the crowd' , 'the activist' , 'the community' et cetera-agents that in one way or another perform scientific research without being a professional scientist. The reasons are as manifold as the identities. Sometimes citizens react to environmental injustice by creating their own instruments and data. Sometimes volunteers join already defined basic science projects and

This paper addresses emerging forms of Citizen Science (Citizen Science), and discusses their value for science, policy and society. It clarifies how the term Citizen Science is used and identifies different forms of Citizen Science. This is important, since with blurred distinctions there is a risk of both overrating and underestimating the value of Citizen Science and of misinterpreting what makes a significant contribution to scientific endeavour.The paper identifies three main forms of citizen science 1) Citizen Science as a research method, aiming for scientific output, 2) Citizen Science as public engagement, aiming to establish legitimacy for science and science policy in society, and, 3) Citizen Science as civic mobilization, aiming for legal or political influence in relation to specific issues. In terms of scientific output, the first form of Citizen Science exceeds the others in terms of scientific peer-reviewed articles. These projects build on strict protocols and rules for participation and rely on mass inclusion to secure the quality of contributions. Volunteers are invited to pursue very delimited tasks, defined by the scientists.The value of the three distinct forms of Citizen Science –for science, for policy and for society, is discussed to situate Citizen Science in relation to current policy initiatives in Europe and in the US. In quantitative terms the US, and particularly the NSF have so far taken a lead in allocating research funding to Citizen Science projects (primarily of the first form), however, the White House has recently issued a memorandum addressing societal and scientific challenges through citizen science covering all three forms discussed in this paper. As Citizen Science is currently being launched as a way to change the very landscape of science, important gaps in research are identified and policy recommendations are provided, in order for policy makers to be able to assess and anticipate the value of different forms of Citizen Science with regard to future research policy.