Citizen science projects offer innovative approaches for solving the data deficiency in biodiversity studies. However, doubts remain about the quality of citizen science data because of the novelty of the method, the lack of formal training for citizen participants, or other issues related to engagement of citizens. When there are issues about data quality trust becomes a key factor among project managers, government officials and scientists for the publishing and use of citizen science data. Whether or not to trust citizen science teams and the data they produce is a complex behavioral choice because trust itself is a complicated concept. Research in many academic disciplines including political science, psychology, business management and computer science have contributed to our understanding of trust. We present a general model for the confidence in using citizen science data that combines aspects of data quality and trust. We demonstrated how this model can be useful in real projects such as eBird and iNaturalist by simulating situations of the deficit of trust.
