The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, established in 1899, is a national co-operative body for learned societies in Finland. It issues statements, launches initiatives and makes recommendations relating to academic research, especially when it serves to promote the interests of the member societies. The Federation has a membership of 260 societies from all branches of arts and sciences, in total 250,000 individual members. Every year these learned societies arrange hundreds of meetings and conferences, attended by the academic community and the general public. They are also among the foremost academic publishers in Finland: they issue more than 100 periodicals and some 250 new titles each year. Publications issued by the member societies are sold in Tiedekirja, the bookstore maintained by the Federation. The Exchange Centre for Scientific Literature (called Exchange Center on navigation) is in charge of the exchange of publications of learned societies and other scientific publishing bodies. The Federation also publishes a journal Tieteessä tapahtuu (Science now), which appears eight times a year. The newsletter contains information on the events and publications of the learned societies and on the current issues within the academic community. The learned societies played a vital role in organising the exhibitions that formed the basis for Heureka, the Finnish Science Centre. Tieteen päivät is a biannual science festival, co-organised with the Finnish Cultural Foundation and the Delegation of the Finnish Academies of Sciences and Letters. The Federation of Finnish Learned Societies also has close links with Finnish cultural institutes abroad, including Athens, Berlin, London, Paris, Rome and Tallinn.