The number of Learned Societies in Europe

Surprisingly little information and research exists on the learned societies' current number, forms of organisations and operation, or contributions to scientific and societal impact of research in Europe. In this work in progress paper we present a rough preliminary estimate of the number of learned societies in Europe. We identified 2.463 societies in 11 European countries and estimated the total number being in the ERA area (46 countries) approximately 9.000 societies.