Acta Horticulturae

NEWS FROM THE BOARD
NEWS FROM THE BOARD
ISHS Membership
Access to World Horticulture
Uygun Aksoy
Uygun Aksoy, ISHS
Board member
The International Society for Horticultural
Science (ISHS) has been a unique platform in
world horticulture for more than 40 years. The
objective of ISHS is “to further all sectors of
horticulture by improving international cooperation
in the scientific study and exchange
of knowledge of biological, technical, ecological,
environmental, sociological, educational
and economic issues as they affect horticulture.”
The scientific structure is composed of
commodity-based Sections and cross-commodity
Commissions. Their outputs are based
on symposia, workshops and congresses which
are published in Acta Horticulturae and
Chronica Horticulturae. These publications are
available in various research libraries and
include nearly 650 Acta containing over
32,000 articles. These are all now available
online on the ISHS website (www.ishs.org) or
directly at www.actahort.org. They represent a
tremendous resource of horticultural information.
The world-wide network formed through
ISHS develops information on horticulture and
facilitates the exchange of information
required to advance horticultural science.
Membership in this international forum is open
to all individuals, organizations, countries or
states. The main aim of ISHS is to provide efficient
networking among stakeholders in various
fields of horticulture throughout the world.
Data on membership between 1986 and 2003
are presented in Figure 1. Since 1995 there has
been a steady increase reflecting increased
services provided by our Society. Individual
members come from 125 countries, the largest
number from Europe followed by Asia and
Oceania, and North America. The proportion
of the membership coming from Europe and
North America decreased slightly from 1998 to
2003 whereas that from other continents is
increasing. The highest rate of increase was in
the members from Central and South America,
4 fold, and from Middle East and Africa, 3.5
fold, (Figure 2).
Increasing the number of members from developing
countries has been a priority for the
Society. Starting from 1996, the annual fee
paid by members coming from developing
countries is valid for two years, essentially halving
the membership fee. Members from developing
countries are encouraged to organize
ISHS symposia. The World Conference on
Horticultural Research, co-sponsored by ISHS
and the American Society for Horticultural
Science, held in Rome in 1998 was a milestone
in the development of strategies to improve
horticultural research in developing countries.
An ISHS Committee for Research Cooperation
(CRC) has been established to provide greater
reach of the Society into the developing world.
However, individual membership from developing
countries still needs to be promoted.
One way could be through organizing “twinning”
programs with members from developed
countries. I am convinced that many members,
if approached, will support individual membership
to their colleagues in the developing world
who are constrained by bureaucratic or financial
realities. This is essential since membership
now provides 10 downloads to Acta
Horticulturae online, helping to build linkages
with counterparts in other parts of the world.
ISHS symposia are organized regularly, now
over 30 per year. They are announced in
Chronica Horticulturae, received quarterly by
each member. Early announcement permits
ISHS members to plan and participate in these
narrowly focused symposia. Participants at
these symposia include researchers, farmers,
academics, and industry personnel. As an
example, The First International Conference on
Turfgrass Management and Science for Sports
Fields was organized in June 2003 in Athens
(Greece) exactly a year before the Olympic
Games. By participating in these symposia,
horticulturists working on a specific commodi-
INDIVIDUAL MEMBERSHIP
The main body of the ISHS is formed by the
individual members. Currently, there are nearly
6000 individual members from 125 countries.
The numbers are increasing each year.
The privileges of individual membership
include:
Figure 1. Evolution of individual membership in ISHS between 1986 and 2003.
6000
5000
4000
❚ Four issues of Chronica Horticulturae
❚ A list of members and their contact information
by country
❚ Reduced registration fees at ISHS symposia
and the International Horticultural Congress
(IHC)
❚ Free download of a prescribed number of
Acta Horticulturae articles from Acta on-line
❚ Reduced cost of ISHS publications
❚ A certificate and card of membership
3000
2000
1000
0
1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002
individual members
CHRONICA HORTICULTURAE •VOL 44 • NUMBER 1 • 2004 • 3