CITIZEN SCIENCE AND EXTENSION
EVIDENCE OF CONVERGENCES IN INSTITUTIONAL EXTENSION POLICIES OF BRAZILIAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES
Keywords:
citizen science, university extension, open science, institutional policies, federal universitiesAbstract
Citizen Science promotes public participation in knowledge production and has become an important expression of Open Science. This study examined the extent to which institutional extension policies of Brazilian federal universities incorporate principles convergent with Citizen Science. The documentary research analyzed extension policies from 58 federal universities using content analysis, a Human-in-the-Loop (HITL) approach supported by generative artificial intelligence, and an analytical framework composed of six Citizen Science dimensions, complemented by the Extension–Citizen Science Convergence Index (ICECC). The results identified 305 pieces of evidence of convergence, particularly in the dimensions of commitment to social challenges and the common good, knowledge co-production, citizen participation, and dialogue between science and society. The study concludes that extension policies incorporate principles convergent with Citizen Science, revealing normative and conceptual convergences between the two fields in the Brazilian context.