SOCIETY OF EXPLORATION GEOPHYSICISTS

Code of Ethics
(Reprinted with permission)

The Constitution of the SEG, Article IV, Section 1, states that "Membership of any class shall be contingent upon conformance with the established principles of professional ethics."

As an elaboration of these established principles of professional ethics, the following Code of Ethics is enunciated. It shall be your duty as a geophysicist, in order to maintain the dignity of your chosen profession:

1. To carry on your professional work in a spirit of fidelity to clients and employers, fairness to employees and contractors, and devotion to high ideals of personal honor.

2. To treat as confidential your knowledge of the business affairs, geophysical or geological information, or technical processes of clients or employers when their interests require secrecy.

3. To inform a client or employer of any business connections, interests, or affiliations which might influence your judgment or impair the disinterested quality of your services.

4. To accept financial or other compensation for a particular service from one source only, except with the full knowledge and consent of all interested parties.

5. To refrain from associationg yourself with, or knowingly to allow the use of your name by, an enterprise of questionable character.

6. To advertise only in a manner consistent with the dignity of the profession, to refrain from using any improper or questionable methods of soliciting professional work, and to decline to pay or to accept compensation for work secured by such improper or questionable methods.

7. To refrain from using unfair means to win professional advancement, and to avoid injuring unfairly, or maliciously, directly or indirectly, another geophysicist's professional reputation, business, or chances of employment.

8. To cooperate in building up the geophysical profession by the interchane of general information and experience with your fellow geophysicists and with students and also by contributions to the work of technical societies, schools of applied science, and the technical press.

9. To interest yourself in the public welfare, and to be ready to apply your special knowledge, skill, and training in the public behalf for the use and benefit of mankind.