[Do journals need societies, and do societies need journals?]

Starting in the mid-1600s, a number of scientific societies began to establish journals. The aim was to disseminate the knowledge developed by their fellows. The members of the societies were both the authors and reviewers of the articles as well as the main readers. Historically, there has been a tight link between journals, journal publications and a community of scholars working in specific fields of research who contribute to and manage them. In the second half of the 20th century, however, scientific societies began to consider the publication of their own journals primarily as a source of revenue, useful for the economic balance of the societies. The change was mainly due to the interest of libraries in acquiring periodicals to make available to readers. Gradually, the number of authors from outside the societies themselves increased and the link between members and the journals of the associations they belonged to decreased. Today, the national or regional connotations of many scientific societies make them unsuitable for managing a future of scholarly communication that should be open, diverse and fair, and operate on a global scale. As journal publishing has become a global undertaking and moreover, an undertaking that is increasingly mediated through online digital interactions, the author asks, do we need to rethink the structure of the learned societies that underpins them?