Publication Accreditation
Trade journals, technical articles and professional magazines already teach. Accreditation lets readers record the time instead of losing it.
What is publication accreditation?
Publication accreditation assesses a professional article, journal issue or technical publication against a published CPD standard. Where it qualifies, readers can claim assessed CPD minutes for structured reading, evidenced through a short reflective check, and receive a certificate carrying a verifiable accreditation number.
Turning reading into evidenced CPD
Professional reading is the most commonly claimed and least commonly evidenced form of CPD. Most records list a journal name and an estimated hour; most auditors discount it. Accreditation closes that gap by attaching an assessed reading time and a completion record to a specific piece.
For publishers this is a retention argument. A subscription that generates recordable CPD is harder to cancel than one that generates a pile of unread issues.
What we assess
- Educational substance — analysis and instruction rather than news or comment
- Accuracy, sourcing and any declared conflicts of interest
- A defined professional readership
- Assessed reading time, based on length, density and technical level
- The reflective check readers complete to claim their minutes
What does not qualify
Product announcements, sponsored features, opinion columns and news reporting are not accredited, however well written. Nor is a piece whose main function is to drive a reader towards a purchase. The distinction we apply is simple: could a reader do something differently at work as a result?
Per article or per issue
Individual articles can be accredited singly, which suits publishers running a small number of substantial technical pieces. Regular publications are usually better served by an issue-level arrangement, where the qualifying articles in each edition are assessed together on a recurring cycle.
What providers say
We accredit around forty courses a year. Every one gets read by a person, and we can point clients at a register entry rather than asking them to take our word for it.
Placeholder Name
Managing Director, Placeholder Academy
United Arab Emirates
The assessment feedback was the useful part. Our first submission came back with three specific points about learning objectives, and fixing them made the course genuinely better — not just accreditable.
Placeholder Name
Head of Learning, Placeholder Training Ltd
United Kingdom
Delegates ask about CPD hours before they ask about the speakers. Having an assessed figure on the certificate removed the single biggest objection in our registration flow.
Placeholder Name
Events Director, Placeholder Events Group
Ireland
Testimonials shown are placeholders pending customer sign-off.
Questions people ask about this
Does reading count as CPD?
Yes, professional reading generally counts as self-directed CPD, provided you record what you read, how long it took and what you took from it. It rarely counts toward the structured or verifiable portion of an annual requirement, because there is no independent evidence of completion.
What counts as CPD?
Any deliberate learning activity that develops professional competence can count as CPD: accredited courses, conferences, webinars, workshops, e-learning, structured reading, mentoring, shadowing, writing or presenting, and reflective practice. What matters is that the activity has a learning purpose and that you can evidence both the time spent and the outcome.
What is the difference between structured and self-directed CPD?
Structured CPD has defined learning objectives, a set duration and independent evidence of completion — accredited courses, conferences and formal e-learning. Self-directed CPD is learning you organise yourself, such as reading, research, mentoring or reflection. Most professional bodies require a minimum proportion of the annual total to be structured.
Publishing for a professional readership?
Send us a recent issue and we will identify which articles would qualify.
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