The List of Accessibility Features For Neuroinclusive Digital Citizen Science
Authors/Creators
-
Apreleva, Alisa
(Project leader)1
- Hawthorne Allen, Alice M. (Researcher)
- Aisha A., Anderson (Researcher)
- Archer, Rhys (Researcher)
- Collis, Julian (Researcher)
- Cuff, Michael (Researcher)
- Glothe, Gregory (Researcher)
- Gallego, Abraham Mateos (Researcher)
- Garrabrant, Elizabeth E. (Researcher)
- Garti, Raphael (Researcher)
- Gorokhov, Andrey CRB (Researcher)
- Harrison, Iain (Researcher)
- Helk, Frank (Researcher)
- Hinman, Chris (Researcher)
- Johannes, Mara Kerstin (Researcher)
- Johnson, Rosemary F. (Researcher)
- Knott, Melanie Luise (Researcher)
- Clémence, Kress (Researcher)
- Ken, Lyman (Researcher)
- de Moraes, Heraldo Henrique Felix (Researcher)
- Newing, Beverley (Researcher)
- Parisi, Elizabeth P. (Researcher)
- Rosa, Melanie (Researcher)
- Sekalala, Seif (Researcher)
- Thomson, Iain (Researcher)
- Torres, Cheryl A. (Researcher)
- Torres-Guerrero, Mayahuel (Researcher)
- Zellinger, Steve (Researcher)
-
Blickhan, Samantha
(Supervisor)2
-
Trouille, Laura
(Supervisor)2
-
Lintott, Chris
(Supervisor)1
-
1.
University of Oxford
-
2.
Adler Planetarium
Contributors
Sponsor:
Description
Citizen science refers to the active involvement of the public in scientific research, where participants and professional scientists collaborate to produce new knowledge that benefits both science and society. Digital citizen science takes place through online platforms, allowing people to contribute remotely, collaborate with others, and share data.
Although digital citizen science platforms commonly adhere to internationally recognised digital accessibility standards, such as the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.2, the perspectives of neurodivergent participants have rarely been approached as a distinct design lens.
Neuro(Minorities)Science, a working group of 89 adult neurodivergent citizen scientists and allies from multiple countries, including Brazil, France, Mexico, the UK, and the USA, collaborated in 2025 to develop actionable, neurodiversity-informed accessibility guidelines for digital citizen science. The project received ethical approval from the Central University Research Ethics Committee at the University of Oxford (R94294/RE001).
The List of Accessibility Features for Neuroinclusive Digital Citizen Science (The List) offers a structured and actionable set of accessibility features designed to support project owners, platform teams, moderators and science communicators in creating neuroinclusive digital citizen science environments.
The List comprises 91 recommendations organised across 11 functional domains:
-
Onboarding
-
Project Instructions
-
Task Presentation
-
Integrity
-
Co-design
-
Project Management
-
Safety
-
Human Value
-
Web Interface (Technical Functionality): General
-
Web Interface (Technical Functionality): Opt-in Features
-
Outreach
While these recommendations were prioritised by neurodivergent contributors, many are likely to support a broad range of participants, reflecting the principle that environments “beneficial to all and crucial to some” foster inclusive scientific participation.
The full context, methodology, and supporting commentary for The List are documented in the peer-reviewed publication Accessibility Guidelines for Neuroinclusive Digital Citizen Science: Results from the Neuro(Minorities)Science Collaboration by Apreleva et al. (2026).
This project was funded by the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement number 101058677, as part of the IMPETUS project accelerator 2025 (https://impetus4cs.eu).
Files
Files
(22.6 kB)
| Name | Size | Download all |
|---|---|---|
|
md5:bb6a00b3312114e767538707607a34c6
|
22.6 kB | Download |
Additional details
Related works
- Is supplement to
- Preprint: 10.5281/zenodo.18624573 (DOI)
Dates
- Available
-
2026-02-11