Elite institutions such as the from Ivy League, MIT, Stanford, the University of California and Caltech also dominate membership,[25] thereby perpetuating the Matthew effect.

Diversity of age, disability, race, religion, gender and sexual orientation is lower in NAS than in the general population.

[9] For example, women in science are an underrepresented group in the Academy but the proportion of female members is slowly growing.

[4] Candidates for membership are considered by peer review and voted for again through several rounds of balloting[35] and a final annual ballot in April at the annual general meeting (AGM) of the academy with results announced shortly after, usually early May.

[36] Since 1966, newly elected members of the National Academy of Sciences have been invited to contribute an inaugural year article (IYA) to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS) which is accompanied by a brief biography of the author.