Reader (academic rank)

The title of reader in the United Kingdom and some universities in the Commonwealth of Nations, for example India, Australia and New Zealand, denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation in research or scholarship.

Overview

In the traditional hierarchy of British and other Commonwealth universities, reader is an academic rank above senior lecturer (or principal lecturer in the new universities) and below Professor, recognising a distinguished record of original research. A reader could be seen as a professor without a chair, similar to the distinction between professor extraordinarius and professor ordinarius at some European universities, professor and chaired professor in Hong Kong and "professor name" (or associate professor) and chaired professor in Ireland. Both readers and professors in the UK would correspond to full professors in the US.^[1] At some universities in countries with historically similar university systems, such as Ireland, India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and Malaysia, the title associate professor is used in place of reader, and similarly ranks above senior lecturer.

The promotion criteria applied to a readership in the United Kingdom or to an associate professorship in many countries is similar to those applied to a professorship: advancing from senior lecturer to reader or associate professor generally requires evidence of a distinguished record of original research.^{[2][3][4][5][6]}

The Scandinavian title docent, as used in Sweden today and in Norway prior to 1985, is commonly translated into English as reader, for example by Lund University.^[7] The title ranks above associate professor (in the North American sense) and below full professor.

Several UK universities (e.g. the University of Leeds; the University of Oxford) have recently dispensed with the reader grade (those currently holding readerships retain the title, but no new readers will be appointed). In the few UK universities that have adopted North American academic titles (i.e. assistant professor; associate professor; full professor) readerships have become assimilated with professorships.

Comparison

The table presents a broad overview of the traditional main systems, but there are universities which use a combination of those systems or other titles.

North American system	UK / Commonwealth system	German system
Professor (Distinguished Professor or equivalent)	Professor	Professor (at Max Planck Society or equivalent)
Professor	Reader or Associate professor	Professor (W3, C4)
Associate professor	Senior Lecturer or Principal Lecturer	Professor (W2, W3 without chair, C3)
Assistant professor	Lecturer / Lecturer(A) / Lecturer(B)	Juniorprofessor (W1, C1/C2)

Notable examples

This rank was the highest academic rank reached by Alan Turing and Mary Cartwright.

References

1. Graham Webb, Making the most of appraisal: career and professional development planning for lecturers, Routledge, 1994, page 30, ISBN 0-7494-1256-9
2. Promotion to Reader on the web-site of Newcastle University, read May 13, 2014.
3. University of London
4. Lancaster University
5. ASPC Procedures 2010 for promotion of Chairs and Readerships on the website of the Open University, read May 13, 2014.
6. University for the Creative Arts
7. http://www.lth.se/fileadmin/lth/anstallda/personal/Procedure_for_reader_2013.pdf