SOCIETY FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY RESEARCH

What SOCIETY FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY RESEARCH does

The Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) is a 501(c)-style international nonprofit scientific society founded in 1969 by Kenneth Howard and David Orlinsky, headquartered in Crestwood, Kentucky with approximately 7 staff. It operates as the premier global membership association exclusively devoted to psychotherapy research, serving academic researchers, clinical psychotherapists, graduate students, and early career scholars across six continents. SPR delivers value through a peer-reviewed journal (Psychotherapy Research, published via Taylor & Francis on Tandfonline for over 25 years), 57 annual international meetings (the 57th scheduled for Osaka, Japan in June 2026), four regional chapters (Europe, Latin America, North America, UK), four area affiliates (Asia, Argentina, Israel, Italy), seven+ interest sections (CAFTR, Culture, SPRISTAD, Case Study, Complexity Science, EPUG, Group Processes), structured research grants (Bergin/Garfield pilot grants, Marna Barrett Excellence, Student Travel), awards programs, webinars, methods workshops, and a newsletter archive dating to 1999.

SPR's revenue mechanics are membership-based: members pay annual dues across Regular, Student, and Retired tiers, processed through YourMembership association management software, with conference registration fees from international meetings and regional chapter events generating additional top-line. Journal access is bundled into membership, with separate subscription and article-level purchases available to non-members on Tandfonline; the Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change generates royalties benefitting SPR, and donations are accepted via a dedicated page. The society partners with Taylor & Francis for publishing, YourMembership for platform operations, Society for Anxiety and Depression (SAP) for joint poster awards, and the UK Talking Therapies Taskforce for policy advocacy; collaborative research networks include EPoC (European), CLIP (Latin American), and SPRISTAD (global therapist-training study covering 52 institutes, 19 countries, 800+ trainees). SPR's governance is distributed across regional chapter presidents (EU-SPR, SPR-LA, NASPR, SPR-UK) elected by the membership, with chapters operating semi-autonomously while coordinating on the international annual meeting calendar.

Name

SOCIETY FOR PSYCHOTHERAPY RESEARCH

Legal name

Society for Psychotherapy Research

Website

https://psychotherapyresearch.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1969

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Society for Psychotherapy Research is a 1969-founded international nonprofit scientific society that advances psychotherapy research worldwide by serving researchers, clinicians, and graduate students through its peer-reviewed journal, annual meetings, regional chapters, awards, and grant programs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Association (Scientific Society)

NAICS

Research and Development in the Social Sciences and Humanities (54172)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPAJABAK

Scholarly Societies & Conference Proceedings Publishing

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Publishing (Books, News, Magazines)/Educational & Academic Publishing (Textbooks, Scholarly, STM)

SECONDARYEDAGAFAL

Conference Proceedings & Research Reports Publishing

Education/Educational Publishing & Learning Content/Academic & Scholarly Publishing (Journals, Monographs)

Keywords

• Psychotherapy research
• Professional association
• Scholarly publishing
• Scientific conferences
• Research grants

Headquarters

HQ city

Crestwood

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Membership Dues: SPR generates revenue through annual membership dues from individual members (Regular, Student, Retired tiers). Members receive benefits including journal access, conference discounts, webinars, and participation in interest sections.
2. Conference Registration Fees: Revenue is generated through registration fees for annual international meetings and regional chapter conferences. The 57th International Annual Meeting is scheduled for Osaka, Japan in June 2026.
3. Journal Access and Royalties: The Society publishes the journal Psychotherapy Research through Taylor & Francis. Members receive online access to current and past issues as a membership benefit. The Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change is also sold, with royalties benefiting SPR.
4. Donations: SPR accepts donations to support its mission. A dedicated donation page exists at psychotherapyresearch.org/donations.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels11 records

Core offering

The Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) is an international professional membership society that advances psychotherapy research through a peer-reviewed journal (Psychotherapy Research, published with Taylor & Francis), an annual international scientific meeting, regional chapter conferences across Europe, Latin America, North America and the United Kingdom, area affiliates (Asia, Argentina, Israel, Italy), webinars, methods workshops, structured research grant programs, awards programs, interest sections, and editorial fellowships for individual researchers, clinicians, and students worldwide.

Product overview

The Society for Psychotherapy Research is a professional membership association rather than a technology product company. Its offerings consist of the Psychotherapy Research journal, international and regional annual meetings, webinars, newsletters, awards programs, research grants (including Student Travel Grants, Bergin and Garfield Small Research Grants, and Marna Barrett Excellence in Psychotherapy Grant), methods workshops, and specialized interest sections covering areas such as child/adolescent/family therapy, culture, therapist training, and complexity science. These represent organizational membership services, scientific publications, and educational resources rather than software products or platforms.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Psychotherapy Research (Journal) Peer-reviewed scientific journal publishing empirical and methodological work on psychotherapy process and outcome, serving academic researchers, clinician-researchers, and graduate students.
• International Annual Scientific Meeting Annual international conference where members and non-members present psychotherapy research, attend keynotes, and network across regional chapters.
• Regional Chapter Conferences Smaller, regionally focused scientific meetings organized by SPR's chapters in Europe, Latin America, North America, and the United Kingdom, providing more frequent and geographically accessible venues than the annual international meeting.
• SPR Webinars Live and on-demand webinar sessions for members covering psychotherapy research topics, methods, and emerging findings.
• Methods Workshops Training workshops focused on quantitative, qualitative, and mixed research methods for studying psychotherapy process and outcome.
• Bergin and Garfield Small Research Grants Small research grant program providing seed funding for member-led psychotherapy research projects, typically for early-career investigators.
• Marna Barrett Excellence in Psychotherapy Grant Named research grant recognizing excellence in psychotherapy research, awarded competitively to members.
• Student Travel Grants Travel grants supporting student members to attend and present at the annual international scientific meeting.
• SPR Awards Program Recurring awards program recognizing distinguished contributions to psychotherapy research and service to the society.
• SPR Newsletter Periodic member-facing newsletter featuring society news, research highlights, and member updates.
• Psychotherapy Research Editorial Fellowship Structured editorial training fellowship providing mentored experience with the Psychotherapy Research journal's editorial process.
• Member Interest Sections Member-organized research interest groups focused on specific topics within psychotherapy research, facilitating ongoing collaboration between annual meetings.

Quantifiable outcome

• SPRISTAD Collaborative Longitudinal Study: data collected from 52 training institutes across 19 countries and 800+ trainees
• +1 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Taylor & Francis / TandfonlinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSPR has an established partnership with Taylor & Francis for publishing its official journal, Psychotherapy Research, on the Tandfonline platform. Members access the journal through this platform as part of their membership benefit. The journal has been published for over 25 years.
• YourMembership (Association Management Software)coreTechnology or IntegrationSPR uses YourMembership association management software to power its online community, membership management, event registration, and member login features on its website.
• SPR Argentina (Area Affiliate)minorOthersSPR Argentina was established in July 2022 as a network of professionals and researchers in Argentina who share an interest in psychotherapy and research. It is an official Area Affiliate of SPR, organizing periodic scientific meetings and supporting collaborative projects.
• SPR-Asia (Area Affiliate)minorOthersSPR-Asia was established in December 2022 as the latest Area Affiliate of SPR. It aims to support psychotherapy research development in Asia, foster collaboration among Asian researchers, and encourage local participation in international SPR activities.
• Israel Group for Psychotherapy Research (IGSPR)minorOthersIsrael Group for Psychotherapy Research (IGSPR) is an official Area Affiliate of SPR, operating as a platform for comparison and exchange among Israeli professionals and researchers in psychotherapy research.
• Società Italiana di Psicoterapia e Ricerca sul processo (SPR Italy)minorOthersSPR Italy (Società Italiana di Psicoterapia e Ricerca sul processo) is an official Area Affiliate of SPR, facilitating Italian-language engagement and regional collaboration in psychotherapy research.
• Society for Anxiety and Depression (SAP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSPR co-sponsors The SPR and SAP Joint Poster Award with the Society for Anxiety and Depression (SAP), awarded annually at the international conference to recognize outstanding poster presentations at the intersection of psychotherapy research and anxiety/depression.
• Talking Therapies Taskforce (UK)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSPR UK Chapter is a member of the Talking Therapies Taskforce alongside UKCP, BACP, RCPsych, BPC, and APP. The taskforce commissioned the HEARD study examining clinical characteristics and costs of service users with complex mental health needs, and launched a report in UK Parliament.
• European Psychotherapy Consortium (EPoC)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerEPoC is a collaborative initiative under SPR's European Chapter that aims to generate large datasets from community samples across different European countries to advance psychotherapy research.
• Consorcio Latinoamericano de Investigación en Psicoterapia (CLIP)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCLIP (Consorcio Latinoamericano de Investigación en Psicoterapia) is a consortium under SPR-LA that aims to establish a common framework for routine collection of clinical information in regular practice across Latin American countries, open to both institutions and independent psychotherapists.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology: A scholarly society dedicated to empirical research in clinical psychology, including psychotherapy research. Closely comparable in mission and member base to SPR, though with a narrower methodological emphasis.
• Society for Research in Psychopathology: An international scientific society focused on psychopathology research, including psychotherapeutic interventions. Highly comparable in structure (small scholarly society, annual conference, member-driven governance) to SPR.
• International Society for the Study of Personality Disorders: A global scholarly society for personality disorder research, frequently overlapping with SPR's psychotherapy research community. Directly comparable as a niche, multidisciplinary, international membership organization.

Broad incumbents

• American Psychological Association: The largest professional psychology organization globally, with multiple divisions addressing psychotherapy research. A broad incumbent whose interests overlap substantially with SPR but at much larger scale and broader scope.
• British Psychological Society: The UK's national body for psychology, with divisions covering psychotherapy research. A broad incumbent that competes with SPR's UK Chapter for UK-based researchers and clinicians.
• International Association of Applied Psychology: The oldest international psychology organization (affiliated with the UN). Comparable as a global scholarly society spanning psychotherapy, clinical, and applied research, with much broader scope than SPR.
• Association for Psychological Science: An international scientific organization advancing psychological science. Broadly comparable as a research-focused membership society, though with a primarily North American emphasis rather than SPR's global scope.

Others

• World Federation for Mental Health: A global mental health advocacy and education organization that intersects with SPR's research-to-practice mission. Comparable in global reach and nonprofit status, but focused on advocacy rather than psychotherapy research per se.

Regional players

• Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues (APA Division 9): An APA division promoting research on social issues through psychological science. Comparable as a scholarly society emphasizing research dissemination and member engagement, though embedded within a larger parent organization.

Emerging players

• European Association of Personality Psychology: A European-focused scholarly society for personality psychology research. Comparable niche international membership organization with overlapping researcher base; less established globally than SPR.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UClqzxNfjCSw-J9VABPwIiKA
• Facebookfacebook.com/psychotherapyresearch
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/society-for-psychotherapy-research
• Instagraminstagram.com/sprofficial1

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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