The Academy of Sciences was established by an act of the Parliament's Presidency on October 10, 1972. Its first meeting was held on January 25, 1973. Professor Aleks Buda was elected President of the Albanian Academy of Sciences.
Until the end of 1980-s, the scientific activity was heavily affected by various restrictions of ideological and political character. Especially in the field of social sciences, those limitations obstructed academic research, imposed aprioristic reasoning, impeded objective assessment for some of the contemporary scientific achievements, and created barriers for their implementation. As a consequence of the political climate and country isolation, foreign relations of Albanian scientists, their involvement in international activities, and exchanges of scientific and academic experiences were severely limited.

Scientific studies carried out by the institutes of the Academy of Science have resolved a variety of important problems regarding history, Albanian language and culture, history of the nature and of natural resources of the country, introduction of new techniques and technologies in industry and agriculture, improvement of public health, environmental protection, etc.

Numerous fundamental scientific works have been published as "The Dictionary of Contemporary Albanian Language", "The Grammar of Albanian Language", "The History of Albania", "The History of Albanian literature", "Climatic Atlas of the Republic of Albania", "The Flora of Albania", "Seismic Map of the Republic of Albania", "Geological Map of the Republic of Albania", "Physical Geography of Albania", etc.

Albanian institutions have a regular schedule of national and international conferences and scientific symposiums on different subjects, which present the achievements of the performed studies.

The Albanian Academy of Sciences has cooperation relationships with national academies of sciences in the region, as well as with other academies in the world. It cooperates with the Academies of Austria, Great Britain, Bulgaria, Egypt, Italy, China, Croatia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Poland, Rumania, Russia, Slovenia and Turkey.

Close collaboration relationships are established with the Science and Art Academy of Kosovo. Both academies have already performed various joint-activities and studies.

The Albanian Academy of Sciences is a member of several international scientific organizations, as: European Federation of National Academies of Sciences; the Global Network of Science Academies (IAP); Mediterranean Academy; European Academy of Arts, Sciences and Humanities; World Academy of Human Rights; The Centre of Studies for Black Sea Countries; Inter-academic Council of South-eastern Europe

The Albanian Academy of Sciences performs studies and research of theoretical and practical character in different domains of Albanian studies, social, natural and technical sciences and facilitates the application of those studies; assists in discovering new domains of studies and research to explore in Albania, in conformity with the requirements of the country development; provides suggestions and necessary expertise to the higher government institutions in solving problems considered as important for the country development; in cooperation with pertinent institutions, works on recommendations for an efficient implementation of technical and scientific achievements in the development of the country; collaborates with other scientific centers and institutions both locally and internationally; supports disseminating and encouraging of scientific knowledge; protects the rights of its members and of other scientific members of staff, cares for creating the necessary working and living conditions, so researchers can be fully engaged in the scientific/research activity; promotes and encourages the active participation of associations, scientific foundations and outer/ scientific collaborators in scientific activities; in compliance with the legal provisions, supports the continuous training for the staff of its institutions; programs, plans and endorses their activity in maintaining and acquiring scientific awards and prizes.