SPPS is an international society based in the Scandinavian countries and headed by an elected board with representatives from Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Norway.

Presently the society counts around 250 members of which about half come from the USA, Japan, Germany, and other non-Scandinavian countries.

The Society supports international symposia and workshops in plant physiology and related topics, organised by SPPS members in the Nordic countries.

SPPS assists Scandinavian universities in arranging summer schools[13] and participates in the international initiative Global Plant Council.

Professor M. G. Stålfelt from Stockholms Högskola realized that the plant science community in Scandinavia needed their own organization and journal, so he arranged a meeting in Copenhagen 27–28 October 1947 with representatives from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.