After three years of research analyzing over 1,000 job descriptions across scholarly publishing, our Career Development Committee is pleased to announce the launch of a Scholarly Publishing Position Glossary that brings much-needed clarity and consistency to publishing career paths.
How We Got Here
In 2022, the Association of University Presses (AUPresses) approached SSP to create a joint Career Progression Task Force, later joined by the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP) in 2023. The goal was straightforward: bring transparency to an industry where career paths have historically been opaque, inconsistent, and dependent on insider knowledge—barriers that disproportionately impact underrepresented groups.
The Task Force assembled 1,089 unique job descriptions spanning 18 years and 10 functional areas across scholarly publishing. Twenty trained coders—publishing professionals and graduate students from George Washington University—systematically analyzed each description using 118 standardized work attributes. Doctoral fellows from the University of Michigan led the data analysis.
What the Research Revealed
The findings, published in Learned Publishing in February 2025, challenge assumptions about publishing careers while confirming others:
- Core Skills Are Transferable: Writing, Speaking, Time Management, and Coordination rank highest across nearly all publishing roles, suggesting more mobility between functional areas than many realize. Marketing and Acquisitions professionals, for example, share remarkably similar skill profiles—making mid-career pivots more feasible than job titles might suggest.
- Skills Shift Dramatically by Level: Complex Problem Solving is considered “Very Important” in only 14% of entry-level positions but jumps to 92% for executive roles. Speaking skills follow a similar trajectory. This data gives early-career professionals a roadmap for skill development.
- Unexpected Connections: Manuscript Editorial positions value Complex Problem Solving as highly as IT roles, challenging the stereotype that editorial work is primarily about grammar expertise.
- Technical Skills Are Niche: Except in Design & Production and IT, technical skills consistently rank lowest in importance—useful information for candidates worried about skill gaps.
Introducing the Glossary
Building on this research, the CDC has converted the job descriptions into a searchable glossary that normalizes terminology across the industry. No more wondering whether “Commissioning Editor” and “Acquisitions Editor” are the same role (they are), or what distinguishes a Production Coordinator from a Production Manager.
The glossary is organized into 10 functional areas across levels, from top positions in the organization to entry-level clerical positions.
- Accounting
- Acquisitions
- Administration
- Design and Production
- Information Technology (IT)
- Manuscript Editorial
- Marketing
- Operations
- Rights and Permissions
- Sales
The glossary provides standardized definitions, typical responsibilities, and required skills for positions across scholarly publishing. It’s designed to help:
- Job seekers understand what different roles actually entail and identify positions matching their skills
- Early and mid-career professionals plan their next career moves and target skill development
- Employers write more accurate, consistent, and inclusive job postings
- Mentors guide mentees toward realistic career trajectories
What’s Next
We hope this work advances equity in publishing. As the Learned Publishing article notes, “When employers require a college degree for a role, they automatically exclude 60% of Americans, including 76% of African Americans and 83% of Latino Americans.” Skills-based hiring, informed by evidence rather than assumptions, offers a more equitable path forward.
Browse the Scholarly Publishing Position Glossary on SSP’s c3 community platform and share it with colleagues navigating their publishing careers (free account required to view). The anonymized dataset is publicly available in the University of Michigan’s Deep Blue repository under a CC-BY license.
News item written by SSP members Mandy Brannon, Cason Lynley, and Julie Nash. Mandy Brannon is the Journals and Collections Marketing Manager for Duke University Press. Cason Lynley is the Director of Marketing, Sales, and Finance for Duke University Press. Julie Nash is the Vice President for Business Growth and Development and Partner Solutions at Wiley.
