Academic rank (also scientific rank) is the hierarchical rank of a teacher, researcher or other employee in a college, high school, university or research establishment. The academic ranks indicate relative importance and power of individuals in academia.
The academic ranks are specific for each country, there is no worldwide-unified ranking system. Among the common ranks are professor, associate professor (docent), assistant professor and lecturer/instructor.
The title of reader in universities in the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth of Nations such as India, Australia and New Zealand denotes an appointment for a senior academic with a distinguished international reputation for research or scholarship.
In the traditional hierarchy of British and other Commonwealth universities, reader (and principal lecturer in the new universities) is an academic rank above senior lecturer and below Chaired Professor. Comparatively speaking, a reader can be thought of as a professor but without a chair, similar to the distinction which can be found in universities in the United States, China (Hong Kong) and some parts of Europe.
Senior lecturer is an academic rank in countries including the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Switzerland, Germany, Israel and Sri Lanka. It is a faculty position at a university or similar institution, which is tenured (in systems with this concept) and is roughly equivalent to an associate professor in the North American system.
The following summarizes basic academic ranks in the French higher education system. Most academic institutions are state-run and most academics with permanent positions are civil servants, and thus are tenured (after a one-year probationary period).
Several parallel career paths exist, depending on the type of institution. The three paths correspond to teacher-researchers (enseignants-chercheurs), researchers, and teachers. It is possible to be promoted from one path to another. Several ranks exist within each path. Increases in rank (for example, the promotion from associate professor to full professor) come with an increase in salary and responsibility and are subject to some conditions, such as the habilitation. In most cases, moving to a higher rank requires going through an open recruitment competition, the same procedure used for initially obtaining the position in the lower rank.
Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea.