Prof Day, of the biochemistry department, was a ''highly innovative protein biochemist and structural biologist'', a society spokesman said.
And she had made ''advances in understanding protein interactions that occur in programmed cell death and survival'' that were critical in normal human development and cancer.
Prof Fordyce, of the geology department, was ''New Zealand's leading vertebrate palaeontologist and a world leader in research on the evolution of whales,
He had shown that the Southern Ocean was a ''critical location for the evolution of these animals'', the spokesman said.
Prof McNaughton, of the psychology department, was a behavioural neuroscientist who had developed a neuropsychological theory of anxiety.
His research covers widespread areas, from drug-screening models of anxiety and the biological basis of human personality to learning and emotion.
Prof Raeburn, of the mathematics and statistics department, specialised in functional analysis.
Born and educated in New Zealand, he was a leading cardiorespiratory physiologist and a world authority in cardiac-neural control.
Society academy chairman Dr John Caradus said becoming a Fellow was an honour given to top researchers for showing ''exceptional distinction in research or in the advancement of science, technology or the humanities''.
The other new Fellows are: Profs Stuart Carr and Nigel French (Massey University); Profs Alison Downard and David Schiel (Canterbury University); Profs Alan Merry, Peter Watts and John Windsor (Auckland University); Prof Tim Naish (Victoria University). Honorary Fellow: Prof Michael Fellows (Charles Darwin