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SEG finances over the past 75 years—the real story

Sumner Geophysics, Houston, USA

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Figure 1. Membership and the six significant epochs in the history of SEG.

View larger version (44K): [in a new window]   Figure 2. The upper figure shows the total income to SEG and the contribution from dues and advertising on a per-member basis in 2005 dollars (if interested, see the steps in data compilation and conversion in the appendix to this article). The brackets on the figures mark the three significant eras (Journal, Books, and Meetings) of SEG.

View larger version (27K): [in a new window]   Figure 3. Publication and total expense on a per-member basis in 2005 dollars. Publication expenses tracked total expenses until the mid-1970s. The jump in per-member expense starting in 1976 marks the increase in the size of the annual meeting. The jump in expense matches the even larger jump in income (see Figure 2) from the annual meeting and the OTC. Blue bracket marks the "Journal only" era—our dues paid to publish GEOPHYSICS. Green bracket marks the "Journal and Books" era that started in the mid-1960s and continues to today—our dues paid for only GEOPHYSICS, and our publications paid for themselves and more. Gold bracket marks the "Journal, Books, and Meetings" era—our dues pay part of the costs for our journals while income from publishing and meetings pays for our other programs.

View larger version (13K): [in a new window]   Figure 4. A snapshot from the first 25 years (1930–1955). Percentage of (a) income and (b) expense for a typical year in this period.

View larger version (14K): [in a new window]   Figure 5. A snapshot from the second 25 years (1955–1980). Percentage of (a) income and (b) expense for a typical year in this period.

View larger version (18K): [in a new window]   Figure 6. A snapshot from the last 25 years (1980–2005). Percentage of (a) income and (b) expense for a typical year in this period.

View larger version (44K): [in a new window]   Figure 7. Plots of revenue from dues versus expense for publications in (a) inflation-adjusted dollars and (b) per-member cost in 2005 dollars.