Announcing Our Fourth Annual Professional Skills Survey

Now in its fourth wave, SSP’s Professional Skills Survey continues to gather industry data to map essential and emerging skills across scholarly publishing by inviting community members from across the field to share their professional skill sets.

Since its inception in 2019, the Professional Skills Survey has been the cornerstone of SSP’s Professional Skills Map, a unique interactive career development tool built from self-reported industry data. This tool serves as a compass for professionals seeking to navigate the multifaceted landscape of scholarly publishing. Sharing your expertise is pivotal in shaping this intricate map of opportunities within our field.

The SSP Professional Skills Map aims to guide scholarly publishing professionals (across industries and career levels) in recognizing their strengths and interpersonal and technical skills. Users can then map those skills onto roles across the industry, empowering them to explore potential career paths they may not have previously considered. The map presents the most frequently reported personal characteristics and interpersonal and technical skills that are thought to be (a) essential to success and (b) emerging needs for development.

This year’s survey has been updated to reflect the work done by the Career Progression Task Force, a collaboration between SSP, the Association of University Presses (AUPresses), and the Association of Learned and Professional Society Publishers (ALPSP). The task force solicited position descriptions from publishing professionals across the industry and is currently analyzing the data to uncover typical themes, titles, and responsibilities and highlighting the skills employers are looking for.

“These two projects intersect in critical ways to ensure data is collected from both sides: from employees via the Skills Survey and from the employer via the Career Progression Task Force,” said Cason Lynley, Director of Marketing, Sales, and Finance for Duke University Press and Skills Map project lead. “The assessment of matches and gaps between the two data sets will eventually provide important insights into what skills and experience may be missing from industry-wide job descriptions or should be added to existing skillsets. Together, they will provide a more comprehensive view that may help people and organizations find the right match.”

Reflecting on the success of our 2021 survey with nearly 400 responses, we are eager to elevate the voices of underrepresented respondents, particularly those in entry-level positions and areas outside of editorial and marketing. Respondents can win one of four free 2024 webinar registration spots!

Tell us about the most essential and emerging skills you use in your work in less than five minutes, and add to the collective understanding of our industry’s evolving dynamics. Survey responses are due December 31, 2023.