The information in this section was adapted from "The International Academy of Sex Research: In the Beginning," Archives of Sexual Behavior, 14: 293-302, 1985, by Richard Green.

In the early 1970s, sexual scientists were members of a diverse group of disciplines and isolated professional organizations. There was no common meeting ground for exchange between the relatively few scholars, worldwide, committed to sex research. There was no opportunity for sharing, either in person or on the printed page.

The first remedy was the launch of Archives of Sexual Behavior: An Interdisciplinary Research Journal. The second was the founding of the International Academy of Sex Research. Richard Green was Founding Editor of Archives of Sexual Behavior in 1971. A year later, he wrote to the Editorial Board proposing a new organization of sexual scientists. Each Board Member was asked to nominate ten scholars for charter membership. On August 1, 1973, there were 53 Charter Members.

The first annual meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research was held at the State University of New York at Stony Brook in September, 1975. It was hosted by the Academy Founding President, Richard Green.

To succeed, the organization needed to be international in more than name. For the first meeting, travel grants arranged from external sources (e.g., the Playboy Foundation and the Department of Psychiatry, SUNY-Stony Brook) were provided for three members from outside of the United States. The one-day scientific program included presentations by members from the US, Japan, England, Australia, Germany, Canada, and Hungary. So that the Academy would not be an exclusively American-based organization, provision was made that no two successive meetings would be held in the US.

To succeed, the organization needed to be an academy in more than name. Membership was, and continues to be, limited in number and restricted to research scholars, which now includes a student membership category open to qualified graduate students.