Physical anthropology is a biological science that deals with the adaptations, variability, and evolution of human beings and their living and fossil relatives. Because it studies human biology in the context of human culture and behavior, physical anthropology is also a social science. The AAPA is the world's leading professional organization for physical anthropologists.

The American Board of Forensic Anthropology was incorporated in 1977 as a non-profit organization to provide, in the public interest and the advancement of science, a program of certification in forensic anthropology

The Canadian Association of Physical Anthropology / L’Association Canadienne D’Anthropologie Physique is a learned society of international scholars and students whose aim is to promote and increase awareness and understanding of physical (biological) anthropology among its membership, as well as to supporting institutions and agencies and the public at large.

The Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (RAI) is the world's longest-established scholarly association dedicated to the furtherance of anthropology (the study of humankind) in its broadest and most inclusive sense. The Institute is a non-profit-making registered charity and is entirely independent, with a Director and a small staff accountable to the Council, which in turn is elected annually from the Fellowship.

Founded in 1902, the American Anthropological Association (AAA) is the world's largest organization of individuals interested in anthropology. Although there were several other American anthropological societies in existence at the turn of the 20th century, this new, national organization was formed "to promote the science of anthropology, to stimulate and coordinate the efforts of American anthropologists, to foster local and other societies devoted to anthropology, to serve as a bond