Public participation has become a part of the study of public policy. Research related to public participation has been widely carried out by scholars. However, research topics related to how to see public participation as a contextual form are still limited. The urgency of contextual public participation is caused due the fact that public participation is a dynamic process. Through the theoretical review and using the PRISMA 2020 method, this article provides an overview of the research focus of previous articles related to public participation. In addition, this article offers several propositions related to aspects that need to be considered in contextual public participation. Finally, this article can be a trigger for research and practice for further theory development related to contextual public participation. Copyright © 2023 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.