The Palaeontological Association

What The Palaeontological Association does

The Palaeontological Association is a UK-registered charity (no. 1168330) founded in 1957 and headquartered in Durham, England, that exists to promote the study of palaeontology and its allied sciences. Its core activity is the publication of peer-reviewed scientific journals and supporting educational materials, alongside the administration of grants, awards, scientific meetings, and career-development resources for the global palaeontology community.

The Association's product portfolio centres on two active journals: Palaeontology, published continuously since 1957 and focused on hypothesis-driven research of broad significance, and Papers in Palaeontology, launched in 2015 to publish descriptive research including new taxa and systematic revisions, replacing the now-discontinued Special Papers in Palaeontology (1967–2014). Complementary publications include the Palaeontology Newsletter, an award-winning Field Guides to Fossils series (priced £8–15), and Fold out Fossils laminated brochures (ISBN 1740-4487). Underlying technology consists of a Drupal-based website (palass.org) with member dashboards, an integrated e-commerce shop, and integrations with Wiley for global journal hosting and Dryad for research data archiving.

The Association operates a non-profit, self-funded business model. Revenue comes from annual membership subscriptions that grant free journal access and member benefits, unit-priced sales of journals, field guides, and educational publications, and charitable donations including legacy gifts. Distribution is global through Wiley for institutional journal access and physical shipment for printed materials, while meetings (e.g., Annual Meeting 2025 in Portsmouth, Annual Meeting 2026 in Oxford, Progressive Palaeontology 2026 in Edinburgh) and digital channels (Facebook, X, Bluesky, NewsFlash email newsletter, Video Gallery) drive community engagement with professional palaeontologists, graduate students, amateur fossil collectors, and the general public.

Name

The Palaeontological Association

Legal name

The Palaeontological Association

Website

https://palass.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1957

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Palaeontological Association is a UK-registered charity founded in 1957 that promotes palaeontology through peer-reviewed journals (Palaeontology, Papers in Palaeontology), field guides, grants, awards, meetings, and educational resources, serving professional researchers, graduate students, amateur collectors, and the public.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Academic Publishing

NAICS

Business Associations (81391), Grantmaking and Giving Services (8132)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Scholarly Society & Association Publishing (EDAGAFAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

Life Sciences (Biology, Ecology, Agriculture) Scholarly Publishing (EDAGAFAC), Open Access Scholarly Journals & Monographs (EDAGAFAJ), Wildlife Conservation & Species Protection (BPAGAGAB)

Keywords

• Scientific publishing
• Academic journals
• Charitable membership
• Palaeontology education
• Research grants

Headquarters

HQ city

Durham

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Membership subscriptions: Annual membership fees that provide access to journal content, member discounts, and participation in the association's activities.
2. Publication sales: Sale of journals (Palaeontology, Papers in Palaeontology), back issues, field guides, and other publications through the online shop.
3. Donations and support: Charitable donations from supporters to fund the association's mission of advancing palaeontology.

Pricing tiers

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

The Palaeontological Association is a registered UK charity that promotes the study of palaeontology by publishing peer-reviewed scientific journals (Palaeontology and Papers in Palaeontology), a Newsletter, Field Guides to Fossils, and Fold out Fossils brochures, and by running grants, awards, scientific meetings, and educational resources including PhD/Masters listings and fossil-collecting guidance. It sells these publications through its own online shop and through Wiley Online Library, funded by annual membership fees, publication sales, and charitable donations.

Product overview

The Palaeontological Association operates as a charitable organization publishing scientific journals and educational resources in palaeontology. Its core product portfolio consists of two peer-reviewed journals—Palaeontology (established 1957, hypothesis-driven research) and Papers in Palaeontology (established 2015, descriptive research)—alongside the legacy Special Papers in Palaeontology (1967-2014, now discontinued). Additional offerings include the Newsletter, Field Guides to Fossils (award-winning pocket guides), and Fold out Fossils (laminated brochures). The Association also provides a Video Gallery, maintains databases of PhD and Masters course opportunities, and offers educational resources on fossil collecting across the UK. All publications are distributed through partnerships with Wiley for journal hosting and Dryad for data archiving.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Palaeontology (Journal) A peer-reviewed scientific journal devoted to innovative and timely hypothesis-driven research that significantly advances understanding of the history of life on Earth. Published since 1957, aimed at academic researchers, university faculty, and professional palaeontologists.
• Papers in Palaeontology A peer-reviewed journal focusing on descriptive research including descriptions of new taxa, systematic revisions, biostratigraphical and biogeographical documentation, and accounts of regional floras and faunas. Published since 2015, for academic researchers and professional palaeontologists.
• Palaeontology Newsletter A regular newsletter containing palaeontological news, book reviews, reviews of past meetings, details of forthcoming meetings, and discussion features. Aimed at the association's members and the wider palaeontological community.
• Field Guides to Fossils An award-winning series of well illustrated, pocket-sized field guidebooks aimed at both amateur and professional palaeontologists. Priced at £8.00–£15.00 per guide.
• Fold out Fossils A series of publications comprising high-quality photographic illustrations and descriptive text in two-colour concertina-type laminated brochures. Subject or location specific, intended as pamphlets for amateur and professional palaeontologists.
• Special Papers in Palaeontology A monograph-style journal that ran from 1967 to 2014, consisting of monographic treatments of groups and edited volumes on linked themes. Replaced by Papers in Palaeontology in 2015.

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WileycoreTechnology or IntegrationThe Palaeontological Association partners with Wiley for the digital hosting and distribution of its journals Palaeontology and Papers in Palaeontology. Members access content for free through the member dashboard link to Wiley. Institutional subscribers can access through Wiley directly.
• DryadcoreTechnology or IntegrationThe association partners with Dryad for data archiving of submitted research papers. All paper submissions are encouraged to archive data through Dryad's data repository.
• Charmouth Heritage Coast CentreminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe association references the Charmouth Heritage Coast Centre as a key partner for fossil collecting guidance on the Jurassic Coast. The centre runs guided fossil hunting walks and maintains a database of scientifically significant finds.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Society of Systematic Biologists: The Society of Systematic Biologists is an international scholarly society publishing Systematic Biology and hosting annual meetings. It is an emerging/peer player sharing the hypothesis-driven taxonomy and systematics publishing niche that intersects with PalAss's descriptive taxonomic content.
• Cushman Foundation for Foraminiferal Research: The Cushman Foundation is a smaller US-based scholarly foundation publishing the Journal of Foraminiferal Research and supporting foraminifera research. It is an emerging/peer player with a much narrower micropalaeontology focus but similar society-style publishing and grants model.
• Pander Society: The Pander Society is an international society for conodont research, a specialist branch of micropalaeontology. It is an emerging/peer player in an adjacent subdiscipline, publishing newsletters and hosting meetings with a comparable small-society learned-society structure.

Direct peers

• The Micropalaeontological Society (TMS): TMS is a UK-based charitable society publishing the Journal of Micropalaeontology and serving micropalaeontology researchers with grants, awards, and meetings. It is a direct peer as a smaller specialist scholarly society publisher with overlapping membership and conference programming.
• The Geological Society of London: The Geological Society of London is a UK-based learned society and charity publishing earth science journals (Lyell Collection, Geological Society Special Publications). It is a direct peer as a fellow scholarly society publisher serving overlapping earth/palaeoscience researchers and operating a similar membership, journals, grants, and events model.
• The Palaeontological Society (US): The Palaeontological Society (US) is the North American counterpart scholarly society publishing the Journal of Paleontology and Palaeontologia Electronica. It is a direct peer with an almost identical mission, journal-publishing model, and member base of professional and amateur palaeontologists.
• The Geologists' Association: The Geologists' Association is a UK-registered charity promoting geology through publications (Proceedings of the Geologists' Association), field meetings, lectures, and grants. It is a direct peer as a UK-based learned society with a similar amateur-professional membership model and field-activities focus.

Others

• Natural History Museum (London): The Natural History Museum is a major UK scientific institution holding the world's premier palaeontology collection and publishing peer-reviewed research (e.g., Systematics and Biodiversity). It is an adjacent institution rather than direct competitor, sharing the same scientific community but operating as a museum rather than a membership society.

Broad incumbents

• Royal Society of Biology: The Royal Society of Biology is a UK-registered charity and membership body covering the broader life sciences. It is a broad incumbent peer offering comparable membership, grants, publications, and events infrastructure for life-science researchers that includes but extends well beyond palaeontology.
• The Linnean Society of London: The Linnean Society is a long-established UK learned society (founded 1788) publishing biological science journals (Biological Journal, Zoological Journal) and hosting meetings on taxonomy and natural history. It is a broad incumbent scholarly society publisher covering a wider life-science remit than PalAss but operating with the same society-journal-membership structure.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ThePalAss
• Facebookfacebook.com/ThePalAss
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/thepalass

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about The Palaeontological Association