About INSNA

INSNA is the professional association for researchers interested in social network analysis. The association is a non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Delaware and founded by Barry Wellman in 1977.

The principal functions of INSNA are as follows:

  • We publish Connections, a bulletin containing news, scholarly articles, technical columns, and abstracts and book reviews.
  • We sponsor the annual International Social Networks Conference, also known as Sunbelt.
  • We manage SOCNET, a ListServ electronic discussion forum, and a link to REDES, a Spanish language network Listserv.
  • We maintain a database of information on members, selling a mailing list to selected publishers and educators.
  • We provide a way to subscribe to the journal of Social Networks, published by Elsevier.

Benefits of Membership


Membership benefits include reduced conference registration fees, a reduced subscription rate for the journal Social Networks, a subscription to Connections, the association's bulletin and journal, and through Connections, access to a bank of network datasets. Additional membership benefits include timely notifications of conferences, symposia, and workshops in network analysis held throughout the year at various locations in the many countries represented by the INSNA membership and access to the world's leading experts on social network analysis through SOCNET (INSNA’s online discussion forum) and at INSNA’s signature conference, the Sunbelt conference. Members often receive discounts from publishers on new books on social network analysis.