Associate professor is an academic title with two principal meanings: in the North American system and that of the Commonwealth system.

In the North American system, used in the United States and many other countries, it is a position between assistant professor and a full professorship.^[1][2][3] In this system, an associate professorship is typically the first promotion obtained after gaining a faculty position, and in the United States it is usually connected to tenure.^[4]

In the Commonwealth system (Canada included), the title associate professor is traditionally used in place of reader in certain countries.^[5][6] Like the reader title it ranks above senior lecturer – which corresponds to associate professor in the North American system – and is broadly equivalent to a North American full professor, as the full professor title is held by far fewer people in the Commonwealth system.^[7] In this system, an associate professorship is typically the second or third promotion obtained after gaining an academic position, and someone promoted to associate professor has usually been a permanent employee already in their two previous ranks as lecturer and senior lecturer.^[8] Traditionally, British universities have used the title reader, while associate professor in place of reader is traditionally used in Australia and New Zealand,^[9] South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, and Ireland within an otherwise British system of ranks. More recently, the university of Cambridge has adopted the North American system of ranks.^[7]

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. Some universities in Commonwealth countries have also entirely adopted the North American system in place of the Commonwealth system.^[6][10][11]