The Comparative Organizational Inequality Network emerged at a meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socioeconomics, in July of 2015 at the London School of Economics. A mini-conference was organized to bring together scholars interested in using linked employer-employee administrative data to develop a new scientific field focused on organizations and inequality. COIN initially included members from Czechia, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia, South Korea, Sweden, and the United States, but over time expanded to include Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, South Africa, and Spain.

The basic structure of the project is as a network, with collaborating scientists accessing linked-employer employee data for their home country. New scientific questions are proposed and discussed at annual COIN meetings. A lead scientist keeps each project moving forward, scientists with an interest in the research question sign on. As projects develop, they are discussed, refined, critiqued, and eventually published in many of the top general science and social science journals. The COIN project has been built around a deep commitment to collaboration, mutual respect, and cutting edge science.