ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2003

Objectives and Membership | Constitution | Executive Committee | Business Meeting | Affiliation and Funding | IPA and Lethaia | IPA Web Site and Electronic Directories | Support for Paleontology Meetings | International Union of Geological Sciences | International Union of Biological Sciences | 2nd International Palaeontological Congress | Accounts for 2003 | 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.

Corporate membership is offered to palaeontological organizations and societies. individual membership is tied to subscription to the journal of palaeontology and stratigraphy, Lethaia.

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

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

Effective August 2002, the officers for the period of 2002-2006 are:

Richard J. Aldridge (UK)

Luis A. Buatois (Argentina) Daniel Goujet (France) Else Marie Friis (Sweden) Jin Yugan (China) Tat'yana N. Koren (Russia)

Rosalie F. Maddocks (U. S. A.)

Roger L. Kaesler (U. S. A.)

Svend Stouge (Denmark) Warren D. Allmon (New York)

John A. Talent (Australia)

David L. Bruton (Norway)

The most recent business meeting of the IPA General Assembly was held during the First International Palaeontological Congress in Macquarie, Australia on July 8, 2002. The next meeting is scheduled for the Second International Palaeontological Congress in Beijing in 2006.

The IPA is affiliated with the International Union of Geolological Sciences (IUGS) and with the International Union of Biological Sciences (IUBS) but receives no funding from either organization.

The income of the IPA is derived in part from corporate membership at the rate of US $7.50 per 100 members. The following is a list of corporate members for 2003 as of November 19:

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. We are pleased also that two societies have chosen to resume support of IPA this year, and we are grateful to two who have paid their dues in advance for 2004 and 2005 to ensure continuity.

The other source of IPA income is from individual membership, which is designated as a portion (USD $25) of each individual subscription to Lethaia, the International Journal of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy. As of June 2003 the number of individual members is 209.

Lethaia, The Journal of Palaeontology and Stratigraphy, is published by Taylor & Francis under the oversight of the Lethaia Foundation (David L. Bruton, Chairman, Svend Stouge, Editor-in-Chief). Lethaia is a formal publication outlet for the IPA, and subscription by an individual confers membership in IPA. IPA is not involved in the editing or production of Lethaia, although both David Bruton and Svend Stouge are members of the Executive Committee of IPA.

For 2004 the cost of subscription to Lethaia will be US $250 (up from $238 in 2002) for institutional subscribers and US $115 for individual subscribers (unchanged from 2002). These prices include distribution of the printed version as well as free electronic access to the full text of the journal and individual membership in IPA. According to JCRV 400-Sci (Journal Citation Reports-Science Division), Lethaia is ranked 12/29 in the ISI field "Palaeontology" and has an impact factor of 0.903 (as of 2001, latest figures available).

Numbers of individual subscribers to Lethaia have risen slightly to 209 (from 202 in 2002, 251 in 2001, 241 in 2000). The IPA Executive Committee is actively encouraging more palaeontologists 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 palaeontological 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] (1682 records)

Fossil Collections of the World [http://ipa.geo.ku.edu:591/Fossil] (77 records)

The PaleoLink Database [http://ipa.geo.ku.edu:591/PaleoLink] (265 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 meeting held in 2003:

"Bioevents" conference in Caravaca, Spain in June 2003. Contacts from the Organizing Committee: Chris Paul and Marcos Lamolda. By invitation, IPA President Richard J. Aldridge attended the meeting and presented the opening address, titled "Understanding Bioevents: Establishing the Evidence."

In 2002 a seed money grant was provided for the following meeting held in 2003:

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

In 2003 no requests for funding have been received from the organizers of any palaeontological meetings, but at the invitation of Dr Jan Smit, President of the Stratigraphy, Sedimentology and Palaeontology division of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), IPA will co-sponsor a session at the EGU Meeting, 25-30 April 2004 in Nice: "Open Session on Palaeontology/Palaeobiology" (Convenors: Malcolm Hart and Richard J. Aldridge). Participation in the EGU meeting is open to all, and more information is available at the following websites:
[http://eost.u-strasbg.fr/EUG/]
[http://www.copernicus.org/EGU/ga/egu04/index.html]

IPA Vice-President Daniel Goujet is representing the IPA on the Scientific Programme Committee of the International Year of Planet Earth (2004-2007).

IPA President Richard J. Aldridge was invited by IUGS President Ed F. J. de Mulder to attend an International Workshop on Earth Sciences & the Public in Utrecht, Netherlands, on 30 June 2003. President Aldridge was unable to attend but appointed Hans Peter Schoenlaub, Director of the Geological Survey of Austria and a biostratigrapher, to represent IPA there.

IPA has been invited to nominate a speaker to address the scientific aspects of conservation of palaeontological sites worldwide, for a topical symposium at the International Geological Congress (IGC) in Florence, 20-28 August 2004. Dr. Jere Lipps (University of California at Berkeley) will represent IPA there with a contribution titled "Conservation paleobiology: History matters!" The symposium, titled "Geosites, Geoparks, Geotourism" is convened by Dr. Bill Wimbledon and co-sponsored by the IUGS Commission on Stratigraphy, ProGeo and the International Union of Geographers.

E-bulletins describing activities of the IUGS are being received regularly and are published at the following website: [http://www.iugs.org/iugs/news/]

The IPA has been invited to participate in the 28th General Assembly of the IUBS in Cairo in January 2004. The official IPA representative at this meeting will be Dr. Jin Yu-guan, Vice-President of IPA. We look forward to continued cooperation in activities of mutual interest.

The Palaeontological Society of China will host this meeting in Beijing, China, in 2006.

Treasurer's Reports are compiled quarterly and annually. 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.

In 2003 the IPA continued to provide leadership and support for palaeontological activities worldwide.

For 2004, the Executive Committee of IPA intend to:

Encourage more palaeontologists to subscribe to Lethaia.

Encourage more palaeontological societies to become corporate members of IPA.

Encourage working groups and other informal palaeontological organizations to affiliate with IPA.

Encourage contributions by organizations and individuals to the directories maintained by IPA.

Encourage specialist palaeontological societies to hold their meetings in close juxtaposition with the International Palaeontological Congresses.

Encourage participation by palaeontologists in relevant interdisciplinary scientific programs.

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

Submitted December 15, 2003
Rosalie F. Maddocks
Secretary-General IPA

IPA Home | Mission Statement | IPA Officers | Annual  Report | Constitution | Corporate Members | Lethaia | IPA Directories | Symposia Sponsorship | Paleontological Database Initiatives | PaleoParks | IPC3 | Contact