ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2002

Objectives and Membership | Constitution | Executive Committee | Business Meeting | Funding | IPA and Lethaia | IPA Web Site and Electronic Directories | Support for Paleontology Meetings | International Union of Geological Sciences | International Union of Biological Sciences | 1st International Palaeontological Congress | 2nd International Palaeontological Congress | Accounts for 2002 | Conclusion

The International Palaeontological Association (IPA) aims to promote and coordinate international cooperation in palaeontology and to encourage the integration and synthesis of all palaeontological knowledge. A detailed mission statement is published online and can be found here.

Membership is open to individual paleontologists. Corporate membership is offered to paleontological societies. Associate members are international organizations who seek cooperation with the IPA.

The Constitution of IPA as revised July 8, 2002, is published online and can be found here.

The Executive Committee consists of the President, four Vice-Presidents, Secretary-General, Treasurer, two Members-at-Large, the Past President, and the Past Secretary-General.

Officers for 1996-2002 were:	Officers for 2002-2006 are:
J. A. Talent (Australia)	Richard J. Aldridge (UK)
W. von Koenigswald (Germany) A. C. Riccardi (Argentina) Jin Yu-gan (China) A. Yu. Rozanov (Russia)	Luis A. Buatois (Argentina) Daniel Goujet (France) Else Marie Friis (Swedent) Jin Yugan (China) Tat'yana N. Koren (Russia)
D. L. Bruton (Norway)	Rosalie F. Maddocks (U. S. A.)
R. L. Kaesler (U. S. A.)	Roger L. Kaesler (U. S. A.)
R. Lane (U. S. A.)	Svend Stouge (Denmark) Warren D. Allmon (New York)
Chang Meemann (China)	John A. Talent (Australia)
David L. Bruton (Norway)	David L. Bruton (Norway)

The business meeting of the IPA Executive Committee was held during the First International Palaeontological Congress in Macquarie, Australia on July 8, 2002.

A new IPA Executive Committee was elected at this meeting, with a search group led by the Secretary-General acting as the selection committee.

The site of the Second International Palaeontological Congress was approved for Beijing in 2006.

Changes to the constitution and by-laws were approved. These were necessary for IPA to get tax-exempt status with the IRS (U. S. Internal Revenue Service). Additional revisions were desirable to enlarge the scientific activities of the IPA and to guarantee a better continuity.

Financial support from IUGS was withdrawn in 1990.

The income of the IPA is derived in part from corporate membership at the rate of US $7.50 per 100 members, rising by increments of this sum for the next 100 members, and so on. The following is a list of corporate members for 2002:

We deeply appreciate the long-term commitment of these societies, four of whom (the Palaeontological Society of Japan, the Paleontological Society of China, The Paleontological Society (USA), and the Russian National Committee of Geologists and its predecessors) have been corporate members since 1989 or before.

Individual membership is designated as a proportion (USD $25) of each individual subscription to Lethaia, the International Journal of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy.

The publishers of the journal, Taylor & Francis, now quote all prices in US$ (not NKr). For 2003 the cost will be US $238 for institutional subscribers and US $115 for individual subscribers. These prices include distribution of the printed version as well as free electronic access to the full text of the journal. According to JCRV 400-Sci (Journal Citation Reports-Science Division), Lethaia has an impact factor of 0,729 and a ranking of 17/27.

Numbers of individual subscribers to Lethaia continue to fall and now stand at 202 (251 in 2001, 241 in 2000). Reduction in the numbers of paleontologists or a generation shift where the personal library is no longer a priority may explain this decline. It is a major task of the IPA Executive Committee to encourage more paleontologists to subscribe to Lethaia.

The IPA constitution prescribes the publication of a world directory of paleontologists, among other activities. Since 2001 this has been published electronically.

In September 2001 the webmaster, Michael Cormack, announced a new website for the IPA [http://ipa.geo.ku.edu/] featuring general information about the association, its officers, rules and by-laws, links to the publishers of Lethaia and Fossils & Strata, and information on symposia. Three electronic databases are now part of the IPA site. The site is immensely popular, and over 1600 paleontologists have now entered appropriate data.

The Directory of Paleontologists of the World [http://ipa.geo.ku.edu:591/Directory] (1639 records)

Fossil Collections of the World [http://ipa.geo.ku.edu:591/Fossil] (74 records)

The PaleoLink Database [http://ipa.geo.ku.edu:591/PaleoLink] (247 records)

Individual members and corporate members of IPA are welcome to use the IPA logo when advertising meetings planned by them. The Association considers applications for grants of US$ 500 to cover the costs of initial planning. Normally it is expected that this sum will be repaid when the meeting is successfully concluded. Funding is usually made well in advance of the meeting.

In 2002 IPA sponsorship was granted to the following meetings:

"Bioevents" conference in Caravaca, Spain to be held in June 2003. Contact from the Organizing Committee: Chris Paul.

Seed money grants were provided for the following meetings:

"Environmental and Biological Impact of the end Ordovician glaciation" at EUG-AGU (Nice), in April 2003. Co-organizers: David Harper and Howard Armstrong.

The IPA treasurer warmly acknowledges the repayment of initial funding from the following meeting:

$349.17 from the symposium "Trilobites and Their Relatives."

The IPA was represented by Vice-President Daniel Goujet on an Ad-Hoc Group to consider the steps needed to set up the Scientific Programme Committee of the International Year of Planet Earth (IUGS-UNESCO initiative). Edward Derbyshire convened this meeting on 13 September 2002 at UNESCO HQ in Paris.

By invitation of the IUGS/Progeo/Int. Union of Geographers, the President or another member of the Executive Council will represent the IPA in a workshop at the 2004 International Geological Congress on the protection of geological sites.

Contact information for IPA on the IUBS website has been updated. We look forward to continued cooperation in activities of mutual interest. The IPA has been invited to participate in the 28th General Assembly of the IUBS in Cairo in January 2004.

The First International Paleontological Congress was held at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, 6-10 July 2002. The meeting was sponsored by the IPA, the Australasian Association of Palaeontologists, Macquarie University Centre for Ecostratigraphy and Palaeobiology, and the Australian Museum. The Chairman of the Organising Committee was Dr. John A. Talent, who was also President of IPA.

About 450 people from 38 countries attended. Associated with the Congress were two symposia in honor of Professor Geoffrey Playford and the late Professor Jane Gray, together with meetings of specialist groups and two IGCP projects (nos. 410 and 421).

The invitation from the Palaeontological Society of China to hold this meeting in Beijing, China, in 2006 has been accepted.

The Treasurer's Report for 2002 will be attached to this report.

The Association wishes to acknowledge the efforts of the Treasurer, Roger L. Kaesler, for his management of the IPA accounts, and of Gerd Halvorsen of Taylor & Francis for the Lethaia accounting.

In April 2001 the Secretary-General and the Treasurer submitted a signed statement to the U. S. Internal Revenue Service seeking to register the IPA as a charity pursuing educational aims and therefore exempt from paying tax. This status has been approved.

The IPA remains solvent thanks to the generosity of the Lethaia Foundation, who will continue to support the association as long as sales of Lethaia permit.

In 2002 the IPA continued to provide leadership and support for paleontological activities worldwide.

For 2003, the Executive Committee of IPA intend to:

Encourage more paleontologists to subscribe to Lethaia.

Encourage more paleontological societies to become corporate members of IPA.

Encourage specialist paleontological societies to hold their meetings in close juxtaposition with the International Paleontological Congresses.

Continue to represent and develop the interests of paleontology where appropriate, nationally, regionally and worldwide.

Submitted January 17, 2003
Rosalie F. Maddocks
Secretary-General IPA

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