The Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) is an international non-governmental non-profit thematic organization of the International Science Council (ISC).

SCOR activities focus on promoting international cooperation in planning and conducting oceanographic research, and solving methodological and conceptual problems that hinder research. SCOR covers all areas of ocean science and cooperates with other organizations with common interests to conduct many SCOR activities. To achieve this, it performs the following functions:

• it examines problems in oceanic research and identifies elements that would benefit from enhanced international action. For this purpose, it organizes scientific meetings on topics of broad interest and importance for progress in the marine sciences. It also develops plans for appropriate kinds of international action and promotes their implementation;
• it establishes Working Groups (WG) or other kinds of subsidiary bodies, either alone or in conjunction with other appropriate organizations. These bodies carry out detailed examination of problems related to international ocean activities and studies of the marine environment, including improvement of scientific methods, design of critical experiments and measurement programs, and relevant aspects of science policy;
• it fosters recognition of the contribution of individual marine scientists and laboratories, bringing to their attention specific problems requiring their consideration and encouraging an adequate level of support for their activities;
• it seeks the views of marine scientists and interested ISC bodies on scientific aspects of international ocean activities and represents these views in appropriate international discussions. It develops support among marine scientists for international ocean research programs;
• it co-operates with national and international organizations concerned with scientific aspects of ocean affairs. It reviews and comments on scientific aspects of international ocean programs. It co-operates with and supports Affiliated Organizations and interrelates their activities with those of SCOR.

SCOR also conducts several different activities to build the capacity for ocean science in developing countries and every SCOR activity includes members from developing countries.