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• The term "citizen science" is adopted in 58 % of initiatives. • 55 % of initiatives include public participation exclusively in data collection. • 17 % of projects are co-produced between researchers and the public. • Cases monitor biodiversity (terrestrial and aquatic), water and land cover. • Funding comes from Government and/or NGO (90 %) and the private sector (25 %). Citizen science has gained momentum in the past two decades as a participatory research approach. However, it is necessary to analyze when and how this participation takes place within the knowledge generation process. We analyzed 36 cases of citizen science in Mexico to describe the relationship between the stages and levels of public participation in knowledge generation and the geographic, temporal, and thematic scope of the initiatives. We also characterized the participants and initiatives' sources of financing. We found that 21 initiatives called themselves citizen science, the rest were described as participatory monitoring or community monitoring. Furthermore, 55 % of the cases were contributory projects, in which citizens participated exclusively in the process of data collection. Only 17 % of cases were co-created, where the public participated along with scientists throughout the process of knowledge generation: from framing of the problems, research design, data collection, and analysis, to the dissemination of the results. In this article, we highlight that citizen science can achieve its greatest transformative potential when public participation takes place throughout the multiple stages of the knowledge generation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]