The presented Research Topic explores the potential of citizen science to contribute to the development of social innovations. It sets the ground for analysis of mutual relations between two strong and embedded in the literature concepts: citizen science and social innovation. Simultaneously, the collection opens a discussion on how these two ideas are intertwined, what are the significant barriers, and the need to use citizen science for social innovation. As described by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and Eurostat (2018), social innovation refers to some new idea, new solution, or new design that makes a social impact in terms of conceptual, process, product, or organizational change, which aims to improve the lives of individuals and communities. This conceptual perspective lays a background for this Research Topic. It is possible to consider citizen science as social innovation. As emphasized by Butkeviciene et al. (2021), the relationship between citizen science and social innovation might be two-fold: citizen science as a novel practice might be considered as social innovation in the realm of the traditional research process, and citizen science might be treated as a vehicle to foster social innovation. These two approaches are present in theoretical debates and coherently intertwined in this collection. On the one hand, articles analyze methodological issues and the novelty of such methods as design thinking or action research. On the other hand, papers also investigate the factors such as translation specifics in citizen science, ecosystems of citizen science, or new learning environments that are supporting the development of social innovation. The presented Research Topic includes seven articles prepared in total by 34 authors from the following countries: Australia, Austria, Czechia, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. Five journals were related to this Research Topic:“Frontiers in Sociology,” “Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics,” “Frontiers in Communication,” “Frontiers in Environmental Science,” and “Frontiers in Political Science.” This collection contains five types of articles covering: two original research articles (Goi and Tan; Heinisch), one perspective article (Roche et al.), two conceptual analysis articles (Eckhard et al.; Roche et al.), one review article (Scheibner et al.), and one methods article (Coulson et al.). This Research Topic covers papers that critically evaluate the existing social innovations and citizen science initiatives. The articles are organized according to three themes.

Editorial: Citizen Science and Social Innovation: Mutual Relations, Barriers, Needs, and Development Factors - Andrzej Klimczuk, Egle Butkeviciene and Minela Kerla

PART I

CONCEPTUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN CITIZEN SCIENCE AND SOCIAL INNOVATION

Ecosystems of Co-Creation - Jennifer Eckhardt, Christoph Kaletka, Daniel Krüger, Karina Maldonado-Mariscal and Ann Christin Schulz

The Role of Translation in Citizen Science to Foster Social Innovation - Barbara Heinisch

PART II

LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS FOR CITIZEN SCIENCE AND SOCIAL INNOVATION

Citizen Science, Education, and Learning: Challenges and Opportunities - Joseph Roche, Laura Bell, Cecília Galvão, Yaela N. Golumbic, Laure Kloetzer, Nieke Knoben, Mari Laakso, Julia Lorke, Greg Mannion, Luciano Massetti, Alice Mauchline, Kai Pata, Andy Ruck, Pavel Taraba and Silvia Winter

Citizen Science in Ireland - Joseph Roche, Aoibhinn Ni Shuilleabhain, Peter Mooney, Gillian L. Barber, Laura Bell and Cliodhna Ryan

PART III

METHODOLOGICAL ISSUES IN USAGE AND DEVELOPMENT OF CITIZEN SCIENCE AND SOCIAL INNOVATION

Design Thinking as a Means of Citizen Science for Social Innovation - Hoe Chin Goi and Wee-Liang Tan

Citizen Sensing: An Action-Orientated Framework for Citizen Science - Saskia Coulson, Mel Woods and Making Sense EU

Ethical Issues With Using Internet of Things Devices in Citizen Science Research: A Scoping Review - James Scheibner, Anna Jobin and Effy Vayena