Report of the Executive Committee for 2023

1. Meetings

By invitation of the Society of Crystallographers in Australia and New Zealand, the Twenty-Sixth General Assembly and International Congress of Crystallography were held in person at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre (MCEC), Australia, and partially in hybrid format, 22–29 August 2023. The meetings were attended by 1788 participants from 66 countries, 1706 of whom attended in person and 82 of whom attended virtually.

The IUCr also sponsored several other meetings that were held in 2023, as detailed in the Report of the Meeting Support Committee (Section 5). In addition, the Executive Committee met in Melbourne, Australia, in August at the time of the Twenty-Sixth Congress and General Assembly of the International Union of Crystallography. The Finance Committee met in March and August to prepare its advice and recommendations on finances, establishment and staff matters.

The most important items of business dealt with by the Executive Committee during their meeting and in e-mail ballots were: editorial policy, pricing policy, review of the work of the Journals Management Board, development of Acta Crystallographica Section E and IUCrData, approval of appointments of Main Editors, approval of appointments of Co-editors, Special Issues, and other matters concerning the IUCr journals; approval of the audited accounts for the previous year; the level of unit contribution and the status of membership subscriptions; sponsorship and financial support for meetings, young scientists' support, revision of internal guidelines; progress with Volumes A, A1, B, C, D, E, F, G, H and I of International Tables for Crystallography and development of associated software; the IUCr Newsletter; the World Database of Crystallographers; marketing and promotional activities; outreach and education; LAAAMP and other activities; OpenLabs and other activities; updates on the Ewald, Struchkov and Bragg Prizes; discussion and consideration of progress of arrangements for the Melbourne Congress; approval of the programme for the Melbourne Congress; review of nominations and election procedures for Officers of the IUCr and for Chairs and members of Commissions; proposals from National Committees for these positions; the IUCr website; approval of publications, jointly with Oxford University Press, in the IUCr/OUP Book Series; the Crystallography in Africa Initiative; staffing requirements in the IUCr office in Chester; risk analysis; and closure of premises and dilapidations.

2. Publications

Volume 79 of Acta Crystallographica, Volume 56 of Journal of Applied Crystallography (JAC), Volume 30 of Journal of Synchrotron Radiation (JSR), Volume 10 of IUCrJ and Volume 8 of IUCrData were published. The reports of the Editor-in-Chief and the Main and Section Editors are given in the annual report of the Commission on Journals (Appendix A1 in the supporting information).

Details of progress with the volumes of International Tables for Crystallography during 2023 are given in the report of this Commission (Appendix A2 in the supporting information).

Four issues of the IUCr Newsletter (https://www.iucr.org/news/newsletter, Volume 31, Numbers 1–4) were published in 2023. The report of the Editor of the IUCr Newsletter is given in Appendix B4 in the supporting information.

3. Adhering bodies

A list of Adhering Bodies of the Union, with names and addresses of the Secretaries of the National Committees for Crystallography, is provided at https://www.iucr.org/iucr/ab.html/adhering-bodies.

4. Commissions of the IUCr

The reports of the Commissions of the IUCr for 2023 are given in Appendix A in the supporting information.

5. Meeting Support Committee

During the IUCr Executive Committee meeting in Versailles in August 2022, the Sub-committee on the Union Calendar was renamed as the Meeting Support Committee (MSC). This was subsequently approved by the Twenty-Sixth General Assembly.

The Meeting Support Committee considers and advises the Executive Committee on requests for IUCr sponsorship and financial support of meetings. A list of IUCr-sponsored meetings held during 2023 is given in Appendix B1 in the supporting information.

Details of how to apply for financial support, along with guidelines, are available on the IUCr website at https://www.iucr.org/iucr/sponsorship/meetings.html.

The IUCr Visiting Professorship scheme aims to support some of the costs of having internationally recognized scientists as lecturers for short courses at workshops or schools organized in developing countries. Support from at least one IUCr Commission is required. Details are available on the IUCr website at https://www.iucr.org/iucr/sponsorship/vp.html.

6. Outreach and Education

The Annual Report on Outreach and Education is given as Appendix B2 in the supporting information.

7. Committees

The Advisory Committees of the Executive Committee assist it in its work. The following Advisory Committees were active in 2023: the Meeting Support Committee, which makes recommendations to the Executive Committee for financial support of meetings; the Committee on Data (CommDat), which provides a coordinating and advisory role regarding data; the Committee for the Maintenance of the CIF Standard (COMCIFS), which maintains the integrity of the Crystallographic Information Framework (CIF) on behalf of the IUCr; the IUCr/OUP Book Series Committee, which recommends new book publications to the IUCr Executive Committee and the delegates of Oxford University Press; and the Gender Equity and Diversity Committee, which establishes new practices and policies to overcome inequity in the IUCr's processes.

The reports of the Chairs of these committees are given in Appendix B in the supporting information.

8. The IUCr Crystallography in Africa Initiative

The report of the Chair of the Committee for the Crystallography in Africa Initiative is given in Appendix B3 in the supporting information.

9. Regional Associates

The reports of the IUCr Representatives to the Regional Associates of the IUCr (the African Crystallographic Association, the American Crystallographic Association, the Asian Crystallographic Association, the European Crystallographic Association and the Latin American Crystallographic Association) are given in Appendix C in the supporting information.

10. Scientific Associates

The reports of the IUCr Representatives on the Advisory Committee of the Worldwide Protein Data Bank, to the International Centre for Diffraction Data and to the International Organization for Crystal Growth are given in Appendix C in the supporting information.

11. Representatives on other bodies

The reports of the IUCr Representatives on other bodies not belonging to the Union are also given in Appendix C in the supporting information.

12. Finances

The Report and Financial Statements for 2023 are given as supporting information.

Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are translated into US dollars (USD) at the rates applying at the dates of the transactions. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies at the balance-sheet date are retranslated at the rates applying at that date.

Investments are stated at market value. Changes in market value are taken through the income and expenditure account.

The balance sheet shows that the assets of the Union have decreased during the year, from USD 3 957 705 to USD 3 809 362. The movement in market value of the investments was a gain of USD 264 888 in 2023 (compared with a loss of USD 676 517 in 2022).

The administrative expenses were USD 369 910 in 2023, as compared with USD 335 553 in 2022.

The costs for the Finance and Executive Committee meetings held in 2023 were USD 103 110. The subscriptions from Adhering Bodies were USD 197 070. Interest on bank accounts and investments was USD 42 256.

The cost of the technical-editing office has been divided between the journals and International Tables for Crystallography in percentages based on the staff time spent on each publication. The technical-editing costs for the journals were USD 1 162 318, as compared with USD 1 153 341 in 2022.

Books showed a profit of USD 4883, as compared with a deficit of USD 258 in 2022. The net sales income for books was USD 72 818 in 2023, as compared with USD 67 043 in 2022.

The cost for the Union in producing the IUCr Newsletter in 2023 was USD 10 110, compared with USD 6646 in 2022.

USD 69 828 was provided for financial support to young scientists, to enable them to attend scientific meetings sponsored by the Union. There were no costs associated with Visiting Professorships in 2023. Outreach and education costs (USD 129 488), which include the value of waivers and discounts for IUCr Journals, contributed to the IUCr's good works in 2023.