The American Statistical Association (ASA) is the main professional organization for

statistician A statistician is a person who works with theoretical or applied statistics. The profession exists in both the private and public sectors. It is common to combine statistical knowledge with expertise in other subjects, and statisticians may wor ...

s and related professionals in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. It was founded in Boston, Massachusetts on November 27, 1839, and is the second oldest continuously operating professional society in the US (only the

Massachusetts Medical Society The Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS) is the oldest continuously operating state medical association in the United States. Incorporated on November 1, 1781, by an act of the Massachusetts General Court, the MMS is a non-profit organization th ...

, founded in 1781, is older). The ASA services statisticians, quantitative scientists, and users of statistics across many academic areas and applications. The association publishes a variety of journals and sponsors several international conferences every year.

Mission

The organization's mission is to promote good application of statistical science, specifically to: * support excellence in statistical practice, research, journals, and meetings * work for the improvement of statistical education at all levels * promote the proper application of statistics * anticipate and meet member needs * use the discipline of statistics to enhance human welfare * seek opportunities to advance the statistics profession

Membership

ASA has about 18,000 members, found in government, academia, and the private sector.

Fellowship

New Fellowships of the ASA are granted annually by the ASA Committee on Fellows. Candidates must have been members for the preceding three years but may be nominated by anyone. The maximum number of recipients each year is one-third of one percent of the ASA membership.

Organizational structure

ASA is organized in Sections, Chapters and Committees. Chapters are arranged geographically, representing 78 areas across the US and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

. An example of an early and large chapter is the SoCalASA. Sections are subject-area and industry-area interest groups covering 22 sub-disciplines. ASA has more than 60 committees coordinating meetings, publications, education, careers, and special-interest topics involving statisticians.

Accredited Professional Statistician

, the ASA offers the Accredited Professional Statistician status (PStat), to members who meet the ASA's credentialing requirements, which include an advanced degree in statistics or related quantitative field, five years of documented experience, and evidence of professional competence. A list of current members with PStat status is available. The ASA also offers the Graduate Statistician status (GStat) as of April 2014. It serves as a preparatory accreditation suitable for graduate students.

Publications

The ASA publishes several

scientific journal In academic publishing, a scientific journal is a periodical publication intended to further the progress of science, usually by reporting new research. Content Articles in scientific journals are mostly written by active scientists such ...

s: *''

Journal of the American Statistical Association The ''Journal of the American Statistical Association (JASA)'' is the primary journal published by the American Statistical Association, the main professional body for statisticians in the United States. It is published four times a year in Ma ...

'' (JASA) *''

The American Statistician ''The American Statistician'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering statistics published by Taylor & Francis on behalf of the American Statistical Association. It was established in 1947. The editor-in-chief is Daniel R. Jeske, ...

'' (TAS) *''

Journal of Business & Economic Statistics The ''Journal of Business & Economic Statistics'' is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal published by the American Statistical Association. The journal covers a broad range of applied problems in business and economic statistics, including ...

'' (JBES) *'' Journal of Agricultural, Biological and Environmental Statistics'' (JABES) *'' Journal of Computational and Graphical Statistics'' (JCGS) *''

Technometrics Technometrics is a journal of statistics for the physical, chemical, and engineering sciences, published quarterly since 1959 by the American Society for Quality and the American Statistical Association The American Statistical Association (ASA) ...

'' (TECH) Online-only journals: *'' Journal of Statistics Education'' (JSE) *''

Journal of Statistical Software The ''Journal of Statistical Software'' is a peer-reviewed open-access scientific journal that publishes papers related to statistical software. The ''Journal of Statistical Software'' was founded in 1996 by Jan de Leeuw of the Department of Statis ...

'' (JSS) The ASA co-sponsors the ''

Current Index to Statistics The Current Index to Statistics is an online database published by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics and the American Statistical Association that contains bibliographic data of articles in statistics, probability, and related fields. It w ...

'' (CIS) Quarterly magazine: '' Chance'' The monthly magazine for members ''Amstat News'' is available online. Historical publications include: * Edward Jarvis, William Brigham and John Wingate Thornton, ''Memorial of the American Statistical Association Praying the Adoption of Measures for the Correction of Errors in the Census'', 1844 * Publications of the American Statistical Association, 1888-1919 (Vols. 1-16) and Quarterly Publications of the American Statistical Association, 1920-1921

Meetings

Meetings provide a platform for scholars and practitioners to exchange research, job opportunities and ideas with each other. ASA holds an annual meeting called

Joint Statistical Meetings The Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) is a professional conference/academic conference for statisticians held annually every year since 1840 (usually in August). Billed as "the largest gathering of statisticians held in North America", JSM has attra ...

(JSM), a conference on statistical methodologies and applications called

Spring Research Conference The IMS/ASA Spring Research Conference (SRC) is an annual conference sponsored by the American Statistical Association (ASA) Section on Physical and Engineering Sciences (SPES) and the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (IMS). The goal of the SRC ...

(SRC),

Conference on Statistical Practice A conference is a meeting of two or more experts to discuss and exchange opinions or new information about a particular topic. Conferences can be used as a form of group decision-making, although discussion, not always decisions, are the main p ...

(CSP), and sponsors multiple international meetings and special-interest group meetings.

References

External links

American Statistical Association
{{Authority control Professional associations based in the United States Statistical organizations in the United States 1839 establishments in the United States