Every year, JPT surveys SPE members to determine whether the publication is fulfilling its readers’ needs and to get opinions about ways to make the magazine better. JPT has changed significantly over the past 2 to 3 years—it has doubled the amount of editorial content, increased coverage of new and emerging technology, and added several new features. All of these improvements were designed to help JPT contribute to SPE’s mission of providing the best quality upstream technical information to the industry, while adding to the depth and breadth of coverage to match the industry’s growth.
The survey was sent to a representative sample of members matching SPE’s geographic and age distribution. Invitations to participate in the 2013 SPEJPT Reader Survey were sent to 59,893 professional (nonstudent) members. More than a third of respondents classified themselves as engineers, with the next highest category managers at 20%. Just under half of those participating in the poll reside in North America, with 52% outside of North America, and 68% of respondents have at least 10 years of experience in the oil and gas industry.
JPT continues to be rated highly by readers—76% of respondent rated the magazine’s content “very good to excellent,” and more than 97% rated it “good to excellent.” Just under 80% said JPT was better than other publications serving the E&P industry, and a third of respondents called it “significantly better.” The magazine is also read more than other upstream publications. More than 83% of respondents said they always or frequently read JPT; the next highest score by an upstream publication was 40%. In addition, just under 90% of readers consider JPT to be useful or very useful to them in their jobs.
Readers are interested in new technology and applications of new and existing technology. Features in the magazine that are the most read include Technology Update, Technology Applications, summaries of technical papers, and staff-written feature articles on emerging technology and technology trends. The most popular technical topics include unconventional reservoirs, hydraulic fracturing, field development, completions, mature fields, well revitalization, and high-pressure/high–temperature challenges. Topics of growing interest compared with the 2012 reader survey are production/facilities, offshore facilities, seismic applications, HSE, field development, and drilling fluids.
Readers rated JPT’s biggest strength its technical content, and its main weakness the fact that not all issues cover topics relevant to the reader. Compared with last year’s survey, more readers are accessing JPT online as well as on a mobile device such as a tablet or mobile phone, but print is still by far the most preferred way to read JPT.
JPT’s 44-person Editorial Committee, which includes practicing petroleum professionals from around the globe, and SPE staff will use the information in the survey to further improve the magazine and to ensure that JPTremains useful and relevant to its readers.
