The parameters of what would come to be known as "social science" were in many ways initially established and defined by this publication.

It was edited by American economists Edwin Robert Anderson Seligman and Alvin Saunders Johnson.

[1][2][3] The international network of social scientists developed in the process of creating the Encyclopaedia would prove especially important during the Nazi occupation of Europe, during which many contributing scholars fled persecution for their ideas.

Under Johnson's invitation, several of these scholars would come to New York City and form the "University in Exile", a specialized graduate school now known as the New School for Social Research.

It was succeeded by the International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, edited by David L. Sills, and also published by Macmillan.