Members

Maintaining the membership roster, membership dates, and directory profiles

The Active Members RC42 Social Psychology spreadsheet contains the membership records used by the RC42 website. Its structure follows the membership template provided by the International Sociological Association (ISA) to Research Committee officers.

For routine updates, administrators do not need to rebuild the membership database manually. When ISA provides a new active-members list, the updated records can be copied into the RC42 spreadsheet while preserving the existing column structure. The website then uses the membership dates and other fields to update the public Members Directory automatically.

Where the information is stored

Member records are located in Google Drive:

Google Drive
└── Core Spreadsheets
    └── Active Members RC42 Social Psychology
        ├── Members List
        ├── All
        └── photo

The workbook contains three tabs. For routine membership administration, work primarily with Members List. The All and photo tabs should be kept as part of the workbook and should not be modified unless a specific administrative procedure requires it.

Updating the membership list from ISA

ISA periodically provides Research Committee officers with an updated membership file. The structure of that file corresponds to the structure used in the RC42 membership spreadsheet.

This means that the usual way to update the website membership roster is to copy the latest records supplied by ISA into the Members List tab.

To update the membership list:

  1. Open the most recent active-members file provided by ISA.
  2. Open Active Members RC42 Social Psychology in Google Drive.
  3. Select the Members List tab.
  4. Compare the column headers in the ISA file with the headers in the RC42 spreadsheet.
  5. Copy the updated membership records from the ISA file.
  6. Paste the records into Members List, below the existing header row.
  7. Keep the existing column names unchanged.
  8. Check that RC Membership Start Date and RC Membership End Date use the expected DD-MM-YYYY format.
  9. Google Sheets saves the changes automatically.

The website will process the revised membership list during the next scheduled membership update. If the changes need to appear sooner, the update can also be run manually from GitHub Actions.

WarningKeep the original column structure

Do not rename, remove, or rearrange the existing column headers when updating the membership list. The website automation uses these field names to identify member information.

When copying a new list supplied by ISA, replace or update the membership records rather than replacing the spreadsheet structure itself.

How active and past member status is determined

Administrators do not need to move members manually between the active and past directories.

The website determines each member’s status by comparing RC Membership End Date with the current date:

  • If the end date is today or in the future, the member appears in the Active Members Directory.
  • If the end date has passed, the member appears in the Past Members archive.

For example:

RC Membership End Date: 31-12-2028
Current date: 02-09-2026
Result: Active Member
RC Membership End Date: 31-12-2025
Current date: 02-09-2026
Result: Past Member

Expired members should therefore remain in the spreadsheet. Their membership end date allows the website to retain them automatically in the Past Members archive.

WarningDate format

Membership dates must use DD-MM-YYYY format.

For example:

15-08-2027

Do not use formats such as YYYY-MM-DD or MM/DD/YYYY, as they may prevent the automated process from reading the date correctly.

Member information fields

The website uses information from the ISA membership template. The following fields are especially relevant for the public directory and membership-status calculation.

Column header Purpose Requirement
User ID Identifier included in the ISA membership file Keep the value supplied by ISA.
Member ID Unique ISA identification number for the member Required. Do not assign a new ID manually if one has already been provided by ISA.
Member name Full name as recorded in the ISA file Keep the value supplied by ISA unless a correction is required.
Member first name Member’s given name Required.
Member surname Member’s family name Required.
Institutional Affiliation University, institute, or organization Recommended for the directory.
Department Academic department, faculty, or unit Optional.
Primary address country Country recorded for the member Used for country information and directory filtering where applicable.
RC Membership Start Date Beginning of the current RC membership period Required. Use DD-MM-YYYY.
RC Membership End Date Expiration date of the current RC membership period Required. Use DD-MM-YYYY. This determines active or past status.

Other columns supplied by ISA may remain in the spreadsheet even when they are not displayed publicly. Do not delete columns simply because they are not visible on the website.

Routine member management

The official file supplied by ISA should normally be treated as the main source for membership updates. Manual changes are mainly useful for corrections, renewals, or individual cases that need to be reflected before the next complete ISA list is received.

Adding a new member

If a member must be added before the next updated ISA file is received:

  1. Open Active Members RC42 Social Psychology.
  2. Select Members List.
  3. Add a new row at the bottom of the membership records.
  4. Enter the identifiers and member information exactly as provided by ISA.
  5. Enter RC Membership Start Date and RC Membership End Date using DD-MM-YYYY.
  6. Check that the new row follows the same structure as the surrounding records.
  7. Google Sheets saves the changes automatically.

If the member has not yet been assigned the relevant ISA identifiers, confirm the information with the appropriate RC42 or ISA administrator before creating a permanent record.

Renewing an existing member

When ISA confirms a renewed membership:

  1. Open Active Members RC42 Social Psychology.
  2. Select Members List.
  3. Find the member using their name or Member ID.
  4. Locate RC Membership End Date.
  5. Replace the previous expiration date with the new date supplied by ISA.
  6. Update RC Membership Start Date as well if the new ISA file contains a revised membership period.
  7. Leave the Member ID unchanged.

The website will continue listing the person as an active member as long as the end date has not passed.

When a membership expires

No manual transfer is required.

When RC Membership End Date passes, the website automatically classifies that person as a past member during the next update.

Do not delete the row simply because the membership has expired. Keeping the record allows the member to remain acknowledged in the Past Members archive.

What happens after the spreadsheet is updated

Changes made in Google Sheets are not entered manually into the public directory.

During the membership synchronization process, the website:

  1. reads the current records from Members List;
  2. checks each member’s membership end date;
  3. determines whether the member is active or past;
  4. prepares the data used by the website;
  5. updates the Active Members and Past Members directories;
  6. publishes the resulting changes through the normal website deployment process.

The regular update runs automatically according to the site’s scheduled workflow. An administrator can also run the membership update manually when a change needs to appear before the next scheduled run.

Checking the published directory

After the update has completed:

  1. Open https://isa-rc42.org/members/.
  2. Search for the member’s name.
  3. Confirm that the name, affiliation, country, and other public information appear correctly.
  4. Confirm that the member appears in the appropriate active or past directory.
  5. If the page appears unchanged after the automated process has completed, refresh the browser using Ctrl + F5 on Windows or Cmd + Shift + R on macOS.

If the record still does not appear correctly, check the membership dates and required fields before reviewing GitHub Actions.

Common problems

A member does not appear in the active directory

Check RC Membership End Date. If the date has already passed, the website will classify the person as a past member.

Also confirm that the required member identifiers and name fields are present.

A renewed member still appears as a past member

Check that the new RC Membership End Date was entered in Members List and that it uses DD-MM-YYYY.

After correcting the date, wait for the next automatic update or run the membership update manually.

The new ISA list does not update correctly

Check that the records were copied into Members List without changing the existing column names.

Do not replace the RC42 spreadsheet with a newly created spreadsheet or rename the columns from the ISA file.

A member appears twice

Search the spreadsheet for the member’s Member ID. Each member should have one current record unless the source file supplied by ISA explicitly contains otherwise.

Check the source file before deleting any record.

An expired member is missing from the past archive

Do not delete expired members from Members List. The website needs the historical record and the membership end date to classify them as past members.