A learned society is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline or profession, or a group related disciplines or professions. Membership may be open to all, may require possession of some qualification, or may be an honor conferred by election. This is the case with the oldest learned societies, such as the Polish Sodalitas Litterarum Vistulana (founded 1488), the Italian Accademia dei Lincei (founded 1603), the Académie Française (founded 1635), the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (founded 1652) or the Royal Society of London (founded 1660).
Most learned societies are non-profit organizations. Their activities typically include holding regular conferences for the presentation and discussion of new research results and publishing or sponsoring academic journals in their discipline. Some also act as professional bodies, regulating the activities of their members in the public interest or the collective interest of the membership.
Learned societies are of key importance in the sociology of science, and their formation assists in the emergence and development of new disciplines or professions.
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 (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 (IFLA) 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 New England Journal of Medicine.
Some learned societies (such as the Royal Society of New Zealand) have been rechartered by legislation to form quasi-autonomous non-governmental organizations.
Read more about Learned Society: Membership
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