More than research intermediaries: a descriptive study of the impact and value of learned societies in the UK social sciences

The role of learned societies, mutual organisations of scholars with a common interest in an academic discipline or research field, is a poorly understood part of the ecosystem for knowledge exchange and dissemination. As such, that role is vulnerable to the unintended consequences of actions by other institutions within this ecosystem. This article reports a study of the social science learned societies operating in the UK in 2012/13. It describes their current activities and sustaining revenue streams, develops a methodology for documenting these, and establishes a baseline for future work to assess the impact of changes in their organisational environment.