Study title

Learned Societies in Europe 2019

Dataset ID Number

FSD3595

Persistent identifier

urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3595

Data Type

Quantitative

Authors

• Late, Elina (Tampere University)
• Pölönen, Janne (Federation of Finnish Learned Societies)
• Ochsner, Michael (The Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences)
• Stojanovski, Jadranka (University of Zadar)
• Urbanc, Mimi (Anton Melik Geographical Institute)
• Guns, Raf (University of Antwerp)
• Kraniauskas, Liutauras (Klaipeda University)
• Delicado, Ana (University of Lisbon)
• Iseli, Marlène (Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences)

Abstract

The survey charted the activities of European learned societies in social sciences and humanities. The data were collected as part of a joint project by the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies and Tampere University, which aimed to investigate the activities of learned societies and make them more widely known.

First, some background information was collected on the learned societies. The respondents were asked which field of science the society represented, in which country the society was located, whether the society operated internationally or nationally, and what the primary aim of the society was. Next, the survey charted the society's finances, such as the annual budget, changes in the budget in the past five years, and the most important sources of income for the society. Organisation and staff of the society were surveyed with questions on, for example, how the society was organised (e.g. departments or working groups), whether the society had salaried employees, and how large a share of the society's tasks were carried out without a salary or compensation. The respondents were also asked about the society's membership composition (e.g. individuals or organisations or both), the number of members, member benefits, and recruitment of new members.

The publishing activity of the society was examined next with questions on how many peer-reviewed and other journals, book series, monographs, conference proceedings, and reports and policy briefs the society had published in 2019. The languages of the publications were also charted, and the respondents were asked if there had been any changes in the society's publishing activity in the past five years. The society's seminar and conference activity as well as research activity were surveyed with questions focusing on the number of organised seminars and conferences and the types of research activities the society engaged in. Finally, the respondents were asked about the society's societal impact and science communication, the promotion of open science by the society, collaborations between other learned societies, and the future of their society.

No background information was collected on the respondents.

Keywords

cooperation; internationalism; publishing industry; research and development; research finance; scientific research; social influence

Topic Classification

• Social sciences (Fields of Science Classification)
• Humanities (Fields of Science Classification)
• Information society (CESSDA Topic Classification)

Series

Individual datasets

Distributor

Finnish Social Science Data Archive

Access

The dataset is (B) available for research, teaching and study.

Data Collector

• Late, Elina (Tampere University)

Time Period Covered

2019

Collection Dates

2020-02-03 – 2020-06-30

Nation

Belgium, Great Britain, Croatia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland

Geographical Coverage

Belgium, Great Britain, Croatia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland

Analysis/Observation Unit Type

Organization/Institution

Universe

Learned societies in social sciences and humanities located in Europe

Time Method

Cross-section

Sampling Procedure

Total universe/Complete enumeration

The invitation to participate in the study was sent to all known learned societies in social sciences and humanities in Belgium, Great Britain, Croatia, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia, and Switzerland.

Collection Mode

Self-administered questionnaire: Web-based (CAWI)

Research Instrument

Structured questionnaire

Data File Language

Downloaded data package may contain different language versions of the same files.

The data files of this dataset are available in the following languages: English.

FSD translates quantitative data into English on request, free of charge. More information on ordering data translation.

Number of Cases and Variables

162 variables and 115 cases.

Data Version

1.0

Related Datasets

FSD3596 Learned Societies in Finland 2018

FSD3710 Membership Survey of Learned Societies 2022

Completeness of Data and Restrictions

Response options for variable Q3_1 "In which country the society is located?" in the data do not correspond to the questionnaire.

To prevent identification, the researcher removed a variable related to the first question (society's name) from the data. At FSD, open-ended variables and other identifiers related to the societies in variables Q7_1 (society's budget), Q21_1 (society's membership fee) and Q34_1 (languages in which the society has published) were removed from the data.

Weighting

There are no weight variables in the data.

Citation Requirement

The data and its creators shall be cited in all publications and presentations for which the data have been used. The bibliographic citation may be in the form suggested by the archive or in the form required by the publication.

Bibliographical Citation

Late, Elina (Tampere University) & Pölönen, Janne (Federation of Finnish Learned Societies) & Ochsner, Michael (The Swiss Centre of Expertise in the Social Sciences) & Stojanovski, Jadranka (University of Zadar) & Urbanc, Mimi (Anton Melik Geographical Institute) & Guns, Raf (University of Antwerp) & Kraniauskas, Liutauras (Klaipeda University) & Delicado, Ana (University of Lisbon) & Iseli, Marlène (Swiss Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences): Learned Societies in Europe 2019 [dataset]. Version 1.0 (2023-03-16). Finnish Social Science Data Archive [distributor]. https://urn.fi/urn:nbn:fi:fsd:T-FSD3595

Deposit Requirement

Notify FSD of all publications where you have used the data by sending the citation information to user-services.fsd@tuni.fi.

Disclaimer

The original data creators and the archive bear no responsibility for any results or interpretations arising from the reuse of the data.

FSD has not been informed of any publications related to the data.