learned society

Some of the oldest learned societies are the {{Lang|fr|Académie des Jeux floraux|italic=no}} (founded 1323),{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Accueil/Actualité |url=http://jeuxfloraux.fr/index.html |url-status= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180306142439/http://jeuxfloraux.fr/index.html |archive-date=6 March 2018 |access-date=8 May 2018 |website=Académie des Jeux floraux}} {{Lang|la|Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana|italic=no}} (founded 1488), {{lang|it|Accademia della Crusca|italic=no}} (founded 1583),{{Cite web |date=2015-03-01 |title=The reopening of the Accademia (1811) and the fifth edition of the Vocabolario (1863–1923) |url=http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/en/accademia/history/reopening-accademia-1811-and-fifth-edition-vocabolario-1863-1923 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150301011416/http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/en/accademia/history/reopening-accademia-1811-and-fifth-edition-vocabolario-1863-1923 |archive-date=2015-03-01 |access-date=2021-06-08 |website=Accademia della Crusca}} {{lang|it|Accademia dei Lincei|italic=no}} (founded 1603),{{Cite web |date=2018-07-14 |title=Galileo {{!}} Federico Cesi and the Accademia dei Lincei |url=http://galileo.rice.edu/gal/lincei.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180714131216/http://galileo.rice.edu/gal/lincei.html |archive-date=2018-07-14 |access-date=2021-06-08 |website=The Galileo Project}} {{Lang|fr|Académie Française|italic=no}} (founded 1635),{{Cite web |title=L'histoire |url=https://www.academie-francaise.fr/linstitution/lhistoire |access-date=2021-06-08 |website=Académie française}} German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (founded 1652),{{Cite journal|last=Jedlitschka|first=Karsten|date=2008-06-20|title=The Archive of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina in Halle (Saale): more than 350 years of the history of science|url=https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsnr.2007.0009|journal=Notes and Records of the Royal Society|volume=62|issue=2|pages=237–244|doi=10.1098/rsnr.2007.0009|s2cid=73386192|url-access=subscription}} Royal Society (founded 1660) and French Academy of Sciences (founded 1666).

Scholars in the sociology of science{{who|date=September 2014}} argue that learned societies are of key importance and their formation assists in the emergence and development of new disciplines or professions.{{Cite web|last1=Wise|first1=Alicia|last2=Estelle|first2=Lorraine|date=2019-07-12|title=How Learned Societies and Open Access Will Learn to Co-Exist|url=https://www.socialsciencespace.com/2019/07/how-learned-societies-and-open-access-will-learn-to-co-exist/|access-date=2021-06-08|website=Social Science Space|language=en-US}} In the form of professional associations, they can assist in the creation of pathways to leadership.{{Cite journal |last=Sha |first=Mandy |date=2019-05-14 |title=Professional Association and Pathways to Leadership in Our Profession |url=https://www.surveypractice.org/article/8192-professional-association-and-pathways-to-leadership-in-our-profession |journal=Survey Practice |language=en |volume=12 |issue=1 |doi=10.29115/SP-2018-0039 |doi-access=free}}

Societies can be very general in nature, such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, specific to a given discipline, such as the Modern Language Association, or specific to a given area of study, such as the Royal Entomological Society.

Most are either specific to a particular country (e.g. the Entomological Society of Israel), though they generally include some members from other countries as well, often with local branches, or are international, such as the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions or the Regional Studies Association, in which case they often have national branches. But many are local, such as the Massachusetts Medical Society, the publishers of the internationally known The New England Journal of Medicine.

Some learned societies (such as the Royal Society Te Apārangi) have been rechartered by legislation to form quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations.

{{redirect|Fellow (learned society)||Fellow}}

Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election.

Some societies offer membership to those who have an interest in a particular subject or discipline, provided they pay their membership fees. Older and more academic/professional societies may offer associateships and/or fellowships to fellows who are appropriately qualified by honoris causa, or by submission of a portfolio of work or an original thesis. A benefit of membership may be discounts on the subscription rates for the publications of the society. Many of these societies award post-nominal letters to their memberships.

The membership at the World Association in Economics is free of cost.{{Cite web|title=World Association in Economics. Activities

|url=https://sites.google.com/view/world-association-in-economics|accessdate=2024-10-15|language=en}}

Following the globalization and the development of information technology, certain scholarly societies—such as the Modern Language Association—have created virtual communities for their members. In addition to established academic associations, academic virtual communities have been so organized that, in some cases, they have become more important platforms for interaction and scientific collaborations among researchers and faculty than have traditional scholarly societies.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

Members of these online academic communities, grouped by areas of interests, use for their communication shared and dedicated listservs (for example JISCMail), social networking services (like Facebook or LinkedIn) and academic oriented social networks (like Humanities Commons, ResearchGate, Mendeley or Academia.edu).{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Mike |date=14 February 2013 |title=How virtual science communities are transforming academic research |url=http://www.elsevier.com/connect/how-virtual-science-communities-are-transforming-academic-research |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140810135822/http://www.elsevier.com/connect/how-virtual-science-communities-are-transforming-academic-research |archive-date=10 August 2014 |access-date=10 May 2013 |website=Elsevier}}{{Cite journal |last1=Nistor |first1=Nicolae |last2=Baltes |first2=Beate |last3=Dascălu |first3=Mihai |last4=Mihăilă |first4=Dan |last5=Smeaton |first5=George |last6=Trăuşan-Matu |first6=Ştefan |display-authors=3 |date=May 2014 |title=Participation in virtual academic communities of practice under the influence of technology acceptance and community factors. A learning analytics application |url=https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cel_pubs/20 |journal=Computers in Human Behavior |volume=34 |pages=339–344 |doi=10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.051 |access-date=2019-08-16 |archive-date=2020-08-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806062213/https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cel_pubs/20/ |url-status=dead }}

{{Portal|Science}}

{{main cat|Learned societies}}

• Academic conferences
• List of learned societies
• National academy
• Professional association
• Text publication society

{{Reflist|30em}}

[https://www.scholarly-societies.org/ Scholarly Societies Project - Edition 2] – database of hundreds of scholarly societies in various fields, focusing on the oldest societies; includes abbreviations for their journal titles

{{Commons category}}

{{EB1911 Poster|Societies, Learned|Learned society}}

{{Phaleristics|state=collapsed}}

{{Academic publishing}}

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Category:Scientific organizations