Authors

• Late, Elina (Federation of Finnish Learned Societies)
• Pölönen, Janne (Federation of Finnish Learned Societies)
• Pylvänäinen, Elina (Federation of Finnish Learned Societies)

Keywords

internationalism, learned societies, publishing industry, research and development, scientific research

Abstract

The survey studied the members of learned societies and researchers working in Finland. The data were collected by the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies (TSV) with the aim of obtaining information on the members of Finnish and international learned societies.

First, the respondents' membership of Finnish learned societies, their motivations for holding membership (e.g. advancing research, professional development, networking/being a part of community), and the societies' events they had participated in were examined. Those who were not members of Finnish learned societies were asked about their reasons for not joining. Membership of international learned societies and reasons for not joining international learned societies were also surveyed. Additionally, attitudes towards the role of learned societies in Finland and the importance of science for Finnish society were investigated.

The next set of questions focused on scholarly journals. The respondents were asked how often they read articles from scholarly journals and what their preferred format for reading scholarly journals was. The purposes for which the respondents read articles from both national and international peer reviewed journals were charted, and the respondents were also asked about the value placed on peer reviewed journals in their own field as a publishing forum.

Background variables included, the respondent's age (categorised), gender, region of residence (NUTS2), whether the R was a Finnish citizen, educational background, highest education level achieved, field of education, and type of organization worked at.