THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF STATE BOARDS OF GEOLOGY (ASBOG®) AND PROFESSIONAL ETHICS

Activities of the National Association of State Boards of Geology (ASBOG^®), founded in 1990 to facilitate the state licensing of professional geologists, include:

• developing and administering national licensing examinations,
• seeking to bring compatibility to procedures used in states in their licensing process, and
• developing and providing information for the approximately forty-thousand registrants within the 28 states and Puerto Rico which are members of ASBOG^®.

ASBOG^® considers professional ethics critically important in the professional practice of geology. To promote professional ethics, activities that have been completed or are continuing include:

• code of ethics for the members of ASBOG^® (adopted),
• guidelines for the enforcement of the ASBOG^® code of ethics (adopted),
• draft code of ethics for adoption by member state boards (completed)
• ASBOG^® participation in workshops on professional geological ethics (continuing),
• collection and publication of information on activities of individual state boards and professional ethics (continuing),
• periodic statistical evaluation of the profession to determine importance placed on professional ethics by practicing geologists (continuing - first survey 2006, second 2010)
  • 2010 - statistical analysis of more than three thousand responses from licensed practicing geologists in United States and Canada as to frequency and seriousness of 13 professional ethical issues such as conflict of interest, failure to disclose regulatory violations, plagiarism, practicing outside area of competence, etc.
  • Ranking of issues by seriousness and frequency of occurrence varies among respondents from US, Canada, and those practicing in academia.
  • Statistical correlation between seriousness and frequency of occurrence of ethical issues various among respondents from US (0.03), Canada (-0.26) , and those practicing in academia (0.38)