Marcia Clemmitt | Nov 22, 1992 | 5 min read
A scientific society's burgeoning growth is usually seen as unadulterated good news for its members, promising, among other things, increased political clout for their discipline. But according to some scientists, very large societies can also have a downside. Size-related problems may include a disproportionate skewing of a society's focus away from small but important subdisciplines, and meetings whose overloaded formats make it hard for attendees to focus on science, researchers say. Some a