Learned societies - voluntary non-profit organizations involving academics - have existed since the 17th century for the advancement of scholarship, research, disciplines, publishing and public understanding of science. In English-language literature, a learned society can also be referred to as a scholarly, scientific or professional society or association.

The most well-known learned societies are the national science academies, in which membership is typically based on invitation and merit. There also exists a much broader archipelago of local, national, regional and international societies, whose membership is open to all researchers, and often also to interested decision-makers, professionals, and citizens. 

There are different types of learned societies, which is why they are difficult to define simply. Delicado et al. (2014) divided Portuguese learned societies into three groups according to the focus of their activities: 1.) Scientific societies: advancement of a specific scientific discipline; 2.) Professional associations: representing and promoting the professional interest of their members; 3.) Science dissemination associations: disseminating scientific knowledge and promoting public understanding of science.

Yet it is difficult to draw sharp distinctions because one society may engage in all three types of activities. According to Hopkins (2011), one of the defining features of learned societies is that they do not exist only for the benefit of their members but serve the scientific community and society more broadly.

It has been estimated that in Europe, there could be around 9,000 learned societies (Late & Pölönen, 2021). Kulczycki et al. (2025) identified 18,293 learned societies globally from the ISSN data, so there is much potential to increase the number of societies included in ROR and DoLS.

Further reading:

• Bennett, E. (2013). The future of learned associations in the humanities. Learned Publishing, 26(1), 32–41. https://doi.org/10.1087/20130107
• Delicado, A., Rego, R., Conceição, C.P. et al. (2014). What Roles for Scientific Associations in Contemporary Science?. Minerva 52, 439–465. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-014-9260-3 
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1093/scipol/scx013
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1080/0046760X.2010.518161 
• Korkeamäki, L., Late, E., Pölönen, J., Ryynänen-Karjalainen, L. & Syrjämäki, S. (2019). Learned societies in Finland 2018. https://doi.org/10.23847/isbn.9789525995190 
• Kulczycki, E., Pölönen, J., Laakso, M. & Taşkın, Z. (2025). Learned societies in the academic landscape: challenges in identifying and categorizing organizations. Scientometrics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-025-05304-3
• 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. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1609 
• Late, E., Korkeamäki, L., Pölönen, J. and Syrjämäki, S. (2020), The role of learned societies in national scholarly publishing. Learned Publishing, 33: 5-13. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1270 
• Late, E. & Pölönen, J. (2021). The number of Learned Societies in Europe. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5513561 
• Late, E., Pölönen, J. & Pylvänäinen, E. (2022). Learned Societies and Responsible Research: Results of the survey for the TSV member societies. https://doi.org/10.23847/tsv.219
• 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. https://doi.org/10.23847/tsv.434
• Roscoe, J. (2020). Building new societies: Insights and predictions from the 5th Wiley Society Member Survey. Learned Publishing 33(1), 29-36. https://doi.org/10.1002/leap.1277