This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. This is version 1 of this Preprint.
Priced out of belonging? Insufficient concessions on membership fees across international societies in ecology and evolution
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Authors
Malgorzata Lagisz 
,
Kevin R Bairos-Novak,
April Robin Martinig ,
Michael Bertram ,
Ayumi Mizuno ,
Saeed Shafiei Sabet ,
Matthieu Paquet ,
Manuela Santos Santana,
Eli Thoré,
Nina Trubanová,
Joanna Rutkowska,
James A. Orr ,
Elina Takola ,
Yefeng Yang,
Patrice Pottier ,
Dylan G. E. Gomes,
Ying-Chi Chan,
Zhenzhuo Xian,
Caleb Onoja Akogwu,
Szymon Marian Drobniak ,
Shinichi Nakagawa
Abstract
Learned societies, as professional bodies for scientists, are an integral part of the scientific system. However, their membership fees have the potential to be prohibitive to the most vulnerable members of the scientific community. To shed light on how membership fees are structured, we conducted a survey of 182 international learned societies relevant to researchers in ecology and evolution. We found that 83% of these societies offered fee concessions to students, but only 26% to postdoctoral researchers. An average regular membership fee was $67.8 USD, student fee – $27.4 USD (42.7% of the regular fee), and postdoctoral fee – $42.7 USD (52.9%). Other types of individual concessions, such as for emeritus, family, or unemployed, were rare (2–20%). Of the surveyed societies, 43% had discounts for members from developing countries (Global South). Such discounts were more common among societies located in high-income countries. Societies with a publicly visible commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion, were more likely to offer different types of concessions. Currently, fees may prevent researchers from vulnerable and underprivileged groups from accessing multiple professional benefits offered by learned societies in ecology and evolution. We recommend tangible actions towards making learned societies more affordable and accessible.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.32942/X2Z90D
Subjects
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Life Sciences
Keywords
Equity, diversity and inclusion; money; meta-research; open science; professional and academic organisations, career barriers, Diversity and Inclusion, money, meta-research, open science, open research, open scholarship, professional and academic organisations
Dates
Published: 2024-10-30 16:40
License
CC BY Attribution 4.0 International
Additional Metadata
Language:
English
Conflict of interest statement:
The authors declare we have no competing interests except the following society memberships. M.L. is a member of the Society for Open, Reliable, and Transparent Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (SORTEE), and the European Society for Evolutionary Biology (ESEB); S.N. is a member of ESEB, SORTEE, the British Ecological Society (BES), and the Society for the Study of Evolution (SSE); S.D. is a member of ESEB, SORTEE, the European Ornithologists' Union (EOU), and the Evolution for Everyone (EvoKE) Society; A.R.M. is a member of the Animal Behavior Society (ABS), BES, the Ecological Society of America (ESA), the International Association for Landscape Ecology (IALE), the International Society for Behavioral Ecology (ISBE), SORTEE, and The Wildlife Society (TWS); M.P. is a member of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASAB), EOU, ISBE, and SORTEE; E.T. is a member of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (Gesellschaft für Ökologie, GfÖ) and the Hellenic Ecological Society (HELECOS); Y.Y. is a member of SORTEE; Y.-C.C. is a member of SORTEE, the European Ornithological Union (EOU), and BES; P.P. is a member of the Australasian Evolution Society (AES), SORTEE, the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB), and ESEB; S.S.S. is a member of SORTEE; M.G.B. is a member of SORTEE, ABS, ASAB, the Australasian Society for the Study of Animal Behaviour (ASSAB), the Australian Society for Fish Biology (ASFB), the Fisheries Society of the British Isles (FSBI), the American Chemical Society (ACS), the International Bio-Logging Society (IBS), ISBE, the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB), and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC); C.O.A. is a member of the Society for the Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), SORTEE, the International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT), the Botanical Society of America (BSA), the Society of Systematic Biologists (SSB), SSE, and the Botanical Society of Nigeria (BOSON); J.A.O. is a member of SORTEE, BES; K.R.B.-N. is a member of SORTEE, SSE, and the Australian Coral Reef Society (ACRS); D.G.E.G is a member of SORTEE; E.S.J.T. is a member of SORTEE, and SETAC; M.S.S. is a member of SORTEE and SETAC; A.M. is a member of ISBE, SSE, and SORTEE; N.T. is a member of the Society for Experimental Biology (SEB).
Data and Code Availability Statement:
The data file, code, and detailed methods and results descriptions are provided at https://osf.io/v2shf/?view_only=26461cd2d74044a09356d1ddb7c55d8f.
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