Scientometric Analysis of Research in Energy Efficiency and Citizen Science Through Projects and Publications Articles uri icon

publication date

  • June 2020

issue

  • 12

volume

  • 12

International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)

  • 2071-1050

abstract

  • Energy e ciency is part of the commitment to environmental sustainability made by the organizations that promote and finance research and by the researchers that make this field their subject of study. Although there is growing interest in the subject, it is worth asking whether the research has been approached considering citizens' needs or citizens' participation. The main objective of this study is to analyse whether energy e ciency research has adopted a citizen science perspective. Using scientometric methods, the SCOPUS and CORDIS databases were consulted and a document search strategy was developed to gather information on publications and projects. The analysis revealed that, out of 265 projects under the Seventh Framework Programme on Energy E ciency, only seven (3%) were related to citizen science. Although there is a large volume of publications on energy e ciency (over 200,000) and a considerable number of publications on citizen science (>30,000 articles), only 336 documents were identified that deal with both topics. The number of projects and publications on these topics has increased in recent years, with universities being the institutions that have published the most. Content analysis found that the most frequent topics are public perception of the use of renewable energies; citizen participation in measures to address climate change and global warming; and the involvement of di erent stakeholders in the use and responsible consumption of energy. Finally, information was collected on the impact of these publications on social media and altmetric tools. It was revealed that 33% of the 336 papers have had a presence in di erent sources, especially Twitter. This is a high figure compared with the dissemination achieved by papers from other disciplines.

keywords

  • energy effciency; citizen science; scientometrics; altmetric indicators