The Institute of Statisticians was a British professional organization founded in 1948 to protect the interests of professional statisticians. [1] It was originally named The Association of Incorporated Statisticians Limited, but this was later changed. [2] The institute was formed after the Royal Economic Society prevented a 1947 extension to the royal charter of the Royal Statistical Society which would have allowed it to carry out examinations. [1]
The Institute of Statisticians attempted to obtain a royal charter of its own in 1978 and this led to discussions with the Royal Statistical Society about a possible merger. Talks foundered over disagreement on how to arrange the various membership categories. Within a few years, however, the talks were revisited, and on 1 January 1993, the two organisations merged, becoming simply the Royal Statistical Society. [1]
From 1950 the institute published a journal, first called The Incorporated Statistician (ISSN 14669404) then renamed The Statistician ( ISSN 0039-0526) in 1962, before being subsumed into the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society as Series D upon the merger in 1993. [3] [4]