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Analysis of institutional authors

Mora-Urda, Ana IAuthorGalvez, RosaCorresponding Author

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May 26, 2025
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Thinking outside the box: Citizen science to monitor phlebotomine sand flies in Spain

Publicated to: Acta Tropica. 265 107619- - 2025-05-01 265(), DOI: 10.1016/j.actatropica.2025.107619

Authors:

Milagres, TD; Bermejo, A; de Felipe, ML; da Silva, OS; Mora-Urda, AI; Galvez, R
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Affiliations

Flebocollect Med Entomol Citizen Sci Grp, Madrid, Spain - Author
Inst Salud Carlos III, Lab Med Entomol, Natl Ctr Microbiol, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Autonoma Madrid, Sch Educ & Teacher Training, Dept Specif Didact, Madrid, Spain - Author
Univ Fed Rio Grande Do Sul, Dept Microbiol Immunol & Parasitol, Porto Alegre, Brazil - Author
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Abstract

The Flebocollect project is a citizen science (CS) initiative in which a diverse group of participants, mainly highschool students, were requested to monitor sand flies (fm. Psychodidae; sfm. Phlebotominae), vectors of Leishmania parasites and Phlebovirus. The project generated entomological data that was then used to prepare an online free-access sand fly monitoring map providing information about the distribution areas of this vector group in Spain. This initiative contributes to our understanding of sand fly dynamics and thus of the risk of disease transmission, while promoting education and public health engagement in line with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We were also able to confirm the potential of CS for advancing research and strengthening sustainable vector surveillance, thus meeting the demands of The Global Vector Control Response 2017-2030 program. Didactic impact was analyzed through a test distributed to the participants before and after the educational program (pre- and post-test respectively) to assess the potential of CS as a learning tool and to promote a better attitude towards science. The project's success in Spain demonstrates that similar citizen science initiatives could be replicated elsewhere, provided they receive funding through dedicated scientific outreach budgets and are designed with long-term sustainability in mind.
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Keywords

Citizen scienceEducationEuropFlebocollectInnovationKnowledgeLeishmaniasisMaMapSand flySergentomyia-minutaSpreadSurveillanceSustainabilityVector

Quality index

Bibliometric impact. Analysis of the contribution and dissemination channel

The work has been published in the journal ACTA TROPICA due to its progression and the good impact it has achieved in recent years, according to the agency WoS (JCR), it has become a reference in its field. In the year of publication of the work, 2025, it was in position 7/28, thus managing to position itself as a Q1 (Primer Cuartil), in the category Tropical Medicine.

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Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2026-04-05:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 17.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 17 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 3.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 3 (Altmetric).
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Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Brazil.

There is a significant leadership presence as some of the institution’s authors appear as the first or last signer, detailed as follows: Last Author (GALVEZ ESTEBAN, ROSA).

the authors responsible for correspondence tasks have been Bermejo, Ángela and GALVEZ ESTEBAN, ROSA.

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Awards linked to the item

This study was funded by the Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology-Ministry of Science and Innovation, to carry out activities in the field for the promotion of scientific, technological and innovation culture (Id. BDNS n degrees 592032) through the project "Flebocollect: Didactic strategy for the development of scientific competence through the study of emerging diseases" reference FCT-21-16782.
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