Learned societies take many forms
There is no single model for a learned society. Membership in national science academies is typically based on invitation and merit, while many other societies welcome researchers and people outside academia. Societies also differ in the activities they pursue.
What do learned societies do?
In a study of Portuguese learned societies, Delicado et al. (2014) identified three broad types based on their main activities:
- Scientific societies advance a particular academic discipline.
- Professional associations represent and promote their members’ professional interests.
- Science dissemination associations share scientific knowledge and promote public understanding of science.
These are not strict categories. A society may carry out activities in all three areas. As Hopkins (2011) points out, learned societies do more than serve their members: their work also benefits the research community and society more broadly.
How many learned societies are there?
The number of learned societies is difficult to establish. Late and Pölönen (2021) made a preliminary estimate of around 9,000 societies in Europe. Using ISSN data on scholarly publishing, Kulczycki et al. (2025) identified 18,293 learned societies worldwide. The figures come from different methods and should not be read as a direct comparison.
The ISSN findings also show the potential to make more societies visible in the Research Organization Registry (ROR) and the Directory of Learned Societies (DoLS).
Futher reading
- Bennett, E. (2013). The future of learned associations in the humanities. Learned Publishing, 26(1), 32–41.
- Delicado, A., Rego, R., Conceição, C.P. et al. (2014). What Roles for Scientific Associations in Contemporary Science?. Minerva 52, 439–465.
- Hewitt, M., Dingwall, R., & Turkmendag, I. (2017). More than research intermediaries: a descriptive study of the impact and value of learned societies in the UK social sciences. Science and Public Policy 44(6), 775–788.
- Hopkins, J. (2011). The role of learned societies in knowledge exchange and dissemination: the case of the Regional Studies Association, 1965–2005. History of Education, 40(2), 255–271.
- Korkeamäki, L., Late, E., Pölönen, J., Ryynänen-Karjalainen, L. & Syrjämäki, S. (2019). Learned societies in Finland 2018.
- Kulczycki, E., Pölönen, J., Laakso, M. & Taşkın, Z. (2025). Learned societies in the academic landscape: challenges in identifying and categorizing organizations. Scientometrics.
- Late, E., Guns, R., Pölönen, J., Stojanovski, J., Urbanc, M. and Ochsner, M. (2024). Beyond borders: Examining the role of national learned societies in the social sciences and humanities. Learned Publishing, 37: e1609.
- Late, E., Korkeamäki, L., Pölönen, J. and Syrjämäki, S. (2020), The role of learned societies in national scholarly publishing. Learned Publishing, 33: 5-13.
- Late, E. & Pölönen, J. (2021). The number of Learned Societies in Europe. Zenodo.
- Late, E., Pölönen, J. & Pylvänäinen, E. (2022). Learned Societies and Responsible Research: Results of the survey for the TSV member societies.
- Late, E., Pölönen, J. & Pylvänäinen, E. (2022). Who belongs to a learned society? A report on the findings of the membership survey among learned societies.
- Roscoe, J. (2020). Building new societies: Insights and predictions from the 5th Wiley Society Member Survey. Learned Publishing 33(1), 29-36.