Throughout history, scientific societies have played a profound role in shaping the development of scientific fields, yet the benefits of membership are often underestimated and insufficiently appreciated. Although their traditional function has been to represent their communities across education, government, public policy and industry, today scientific societies have an even broader mission: addressing misinformation, responding to declining public trust in science, promoting evidence-based policies, and communicating with society at large.

The Brazilian Chemical Society (SBQ)¹ is a thriving example of the transformative role of scientific societies in advancing science and education. Supported solely by its members’ contributions and the voluntary service of its board, councils, scientific divisions, and regional secretaries, SBQ does not receive regular public funding and yet maintains a wide range of activities. Despite these limitations, it is one of the most authoritative voices representing chemistry in Brazil, engaging with government agencies to defend and shape science, education, and innovation policies. It is also one of the largest scientific societies in Latin America and has reached 4,000 active members. This number, compared to the size of the chemistry scientific community in the country, is disappointingly low. Among Brazil’s chemistry researchers holding productivity fellowships from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), only about 40% are affiliated with SBQ. This raises an important question: why do so many of the country’s leading scientists remain unaffiliated with the society that helps represent their interests and shape national science and education policies? Modest membership is not unique to Brazil; it is widespread across many countries worldwide, regardless of their level of economic development. Large and influential societies are exceptions rather than the rule.

One of SBQ’s most important contributions throughout its history has been to maintain and continuously strengthen its publishing arm, PubliSBQ,² a leading scientific publisher in chemistry in Latin America. Its portfolio includes four open-access journals: Química Nova, Química Nova na Escola, Revista Virtual de Química, and the Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society (JBCS), the latter enjoying significant international recognition. Three of these journals are indexed in the Journal Citation Reports (JCR). PubliSBQ also publishes several books, produces weekly electronic newsletters reaching over 8,000 subscribers, and maintains online science outreach platforms. Together, these initiatives have a significant impact on the entire chemistry community. PubliSBQ is a nonprofit publisher that is not financially self-sufficient and therefore receives support from SBQ, enabling it to offer increasingly generous discounts on open-access publication fees to active members.

Equally important is SBQ’s role as the official channel of communication between the chemistry community and government agencies, including research funding agencies, government ministries, and evaluation agencies. Through this role, SBQ actively contributes to the country’s strategic planning in science, education, and innovation. The Society is engaged in guaranteeing better labor, educational and scientific conditions. For example, advocating increased financial support for scholarships and research project funding. Or fighting against budget cuts that affect the community, at the federal and state levels, soliciting clarifications or reiterating changes. SBQ is also directly involved in the agreements for supporting subscriptions to international journals. In fact, Brazil is reference worldwide regarding the amount of available international journals that the researchers are entitled to access freely. And this involves interlocution of many scientific societies with the government. Closely related to this, the Brazilian Chemical Society is committed to the growth and strengthening of the Postgraduate system of Chemistry in Brazil, by officially addressing reports and demands, and organizing discussion forums such as the National Meeting of Postgraduate Coordinators. It is involved with the Unified Chemistry Exam, used in many admission processes of postgraduate programs in Brazil. The Society is also the official channel for consultation regarding several chemistry related topics by the media, such as journalists. Another important role of SBQ is the