The process of investigation commenced with a systematic search of all profession-related terms (profession, professionalism, professionalization, professional) across the last three decades (Ebscohost Academic Search Premier, Sabinet and Proquest, limited to full text, scholarly journals, the use of the terms in the abstract and title). This already shows some insights in relation to which terms are most prevalent in academic literature, but also the drop between 2022 and 2023 (refer to Figure 1). Although we illustrate only the trend over the last 10-year period in this figure, the high number of results across the 30-year period further supported a smaller initial investigative scope.

This systematic search indicates the magnitude of the task to evaluate changes in the utilization of profession-related terms over the intended 30-year period. To provide insight into how the application of a systematic review methodology could be usefully applied, we start first with a smaller scope of investigation by selecting one term. Thus, to engage more closely, in this paper we focus on the systematic review results of the use of the term profession over a year period (2022–2023), to share emerging insights but also the types of analysis that can be possible as a full project is developed and the dataset improved. The decision to start with a focused analysis of the construct of profession, rather than other related terms, was also informed by established debate over its relevance for sociological analysis (Adams, 2010; Kurtz, 2022) and the role of profession/s in society (Saks, 2022).

Using the keyword ‘profession’, we searched three databases: EBSCOhost Academic Search Premier², Sabinet³, and ProQuest⁴ Central. The research criteria comprised peer-reviewed journal papers in all academic disciplines and were confined to the years 2022–2023. Supplementary Table 1 indicates the total number of records that were retrieved from the three different databases.

Figure 2 illustrates that the literature search resulted in a total of 589 articles being retrieved from the three different databases. In the identification phase, 250 papers were removed as duplicates, non-English and irretrievable. All 339 articles were uploaded into Atlas.ti where three codes were used; (i) country, (ii) profession, and (iii) journal. The country code was used to identify in which country or countries the research was based. The profession code captured which profession/s was covered and finally the journal in which the paper was published. The first stage of the screening process involved the review of abstracts, which led to another 194 papers being excluded based on the review criteria. This screening involved two rounds of review between reviewers. Firstly, there was an assessment as to whether the abstract reasonably suggests that the paper seeks to engage with the construct of profession for analytical purposes. 194 articles were excluded based on an abstract that did not provide insights as to how the article engaged with the construct or how it employed the construct to explain a social problem. This resulted in a total of 145 eligible papers. Secondly, abstracts underwent another round of review, where reviewers excluded papers not explicitly recognizing the link between professions and a social problem (such as inequality, sexism or racism). The remaining 66 papers were selected for full-text retrieval and considered eligible for full review and discourse analysis.

The team engaged on the relevance to sociological analysis by considering two questions. (1) Does the paper engage or interrogate the construct of profession? And (2) Does the paper employ its investigation of profession as a means to understand a social problem?

Firstly, we found that while the review of abstracts suggested the term profession is used in an analytical manner, most papers do not engage conceptually with the construct at all (40 papers). For the most part, a totally different phenomenon is being studied, and the concept of profession is merely utilized as the context within which it is explored. The journals in which these papers were published can provide some insight into the interpretation of this outcome, examples are, the British Journal of Social Work, New Technology, Work and Employment, Sage Open Nursing, American Journal of Health Professions Education and the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.

Those papers that do engage with the construct fall into two categories. We identified that while some were not attempting to explicitly define the concept directly, they usefully reflect on the sociology of professions literature (Kurtz, 2022; Moreira, 2022; Toraman and Korkmaz, 2022; Llale et al., 2022; Moroșan, 2022) to inform their engagement with a range of topics across various professions – feminisation in the literary profession, professionalism in teaching, the impact of artificial intelligence on quantity surveying and whether the identification of particular criteria is important for considering a field of practice as a profession.

The second category of papers do attempt conceptual discussions, but a few papers still employ the trait approach extensively criticized by the broader sociology of professions field. For example, Lightsey-Tivoli (2022) evaluates the extent to which the instructional technology and distance education (ITDE) field meets the criteria of profession based on Finn’s (1953) definition setting out six criteria: intellectual technique, an application to practical affairs, a defined training period, a professional association including a high-quality level of communication and collaboration, enforced standards and ethics, and expanding theory based on research. Ohmann and Schrecker (2022) similarly apply the trait approach in their discussion of the decline of the academic profession, as does Jehn et al. (2022) in distinguishing between the characteristics of classic and semi-professions, indicating that the latter require less time spent in college, have shorter training requirements and are less exclusive. In a similar fashion, Bolandian-Bafghi et al. (2022) argue that nursing is a profession because of the autonomy, professional commitment, specialty knowledge and skills, shared value system and academic education, whereas Dew and Clark-Grill (2022) indicate a growing appreciation for homeopathy as a profession due to increased societal trust and recognition of indigenous and alternative medicine. Finally, Petrova and Datta (2022) refer to the Standard Occupational Classifications in the United States (US) to define a ‘new occupation’ as one that is not included in the most recent occupational classification system while an ‘emerging occupation’ is one that has small employment numbers but is expected to get larger in the future. We again share some of the journals in which this group of papers were published: Journal of Interprofessional Care, Journal of Law and Society, Canadian Journal of Higher Education, Professions and Professionalism and the Sociology of Health and Illness.

Secondly, we were interested in considering whether the papers employ the construct of profession to understand a social problem. While we have established that there is limited conceptual engagement with the construct, focused analysis shows that more than half of the papers (35) do explore the link between social phenomena and the role of professions.

A substantive number of papers (16) are concerned with the structural inequities brough about by overt and subvert methods of gendering in professions. While there are still some papers concerned merely with the issue of representation (eg. Reimers and April, 2022, which focuses on the architectural profession), predominantly more complex aspects are investigated, mostly centered on the micro-level or implications for professionals within various fields. For example, Hickens et al. (2022) focuses on the impact of ignoring sexual orientation in the dietetic profession and Lică and Negoescu (2017) explores the role of language in perpetuating gender stereotypes and a lowered status for women, while Mumtaz (2022) draws out the implications of gender role conflict, prejudice and office stress for women in two male dominated fields in two countries. Poghosyan et al. (2022) and Durand et al. (2022) examine the gendered effects that might present obstacles to the increasing need for interprofessional teamwork to deliver quality, effective and well-managed care to patients in medicine and nursing. However, there is still a recognition and interest in understanding the impact of gender on profession choice (Canpolat, 2022), with several papers considering particularly the gendered nature of nursing (Shylasree et al., 2022; Shakwane, 2022; Mwetulundila and Indongo, 2022) as well as teaching (Erginer and Saklan, 2022). A related aspect to this discussion is the link between professions and identity formation (Krantz and Fritzèn, 2022; Wagner et al., 2022; Vinson, 2022). For example, Panteli and Urquhart (2022) explore job crafting to showcase how female contractors in IT navigate and achieve well-being and a sense of work/life balance, whereas Prendergast et al. (2022) examine the diversity of pathways to becoming and developing an identity as an assessment professional.

Inequality based on culture and race also emerges as a consistent concern (Ewers et al., 2022; Jefferies et al., 2022) (12 papers touch on this). This appears to be a charge firmly taken up in the papers on the legal field in the form of programmes aimed at improving diversity, equity and inclusion (for, e.g., Razzante and Boss, 2022) and in the medical field in the form of ensuring culturally competent educational programmes and assessment in health professions education (Reicherter and Wruble, 2022), or ‘culturally responsive pedagogy’ (Varnado et al., 2022). A section of papers also deals more generally with the issue of inclusivity. For example, Rasch (2022) considers the role student affairs can play in ensuring a space for neurodiversity in academia, while Reynaert et al. (2022) investigates the practice of human rights through social work. Southerst et al. (2022) examine diversity in the chiropractic profession, whereas Staley et al. (2022) consider the future of speech-language therapy as a profession.

While most papers still tend to be more inward looking, some also consider wider socio-political contexts and the interaction with the institution of profession, as seen in Abrahams et al. (2022) where the links between colonialism and globalization are outlined with implications for students choosing professions aligned to the dominant values and norms of their society. In this collection of papers, clear linkages are drawn between the historical complicity of professions in maintaining inequality but also how addressing social inequality in professional participation holds implications for improved professional practice and more positive impacts in relation to ecological, economic and social contexts. In this regard, Irlam et al. (2023) outline the importance of incorporating a consideration of planetary health and sustainability into the education of health care professions, while Meirkulova and Gelisli (2022) highlight how the social status of teaching in Turkey and Kazakhstan are impacted by regional and country contexts as well as a variety of determinants (excessive workload, incompetence, teacher salaries, economic dissatisfaction and problems with professional development issues).

In line with historical trends, interest in the motivation to enter and status of different professions remains a theme of investigation across a variety of professions (Grinberg and Sela, 2022; Durand et al., 2022; Erginer and Saklan, 2022; Karunakaran, 2022; Kundu and Basu, 2022; Mulder et al., 2022). An emergent theme of investigation reflects a concern with the impact of artificial intelligence on the organization of work. Further investigation reveals that this seems to be an issue of interest, particularly in the financial and accounting related professions, but other professions are also interested in these impacts. For example, Turksoy (2022) examines the impact of AI on public relations, advertising and journalism (7 papers consider these aspects).

There is also a sustained interest in arguing for the recognition of a range of fields of practice as professions and considering shifts in scope (6 papers). This is evidenced in VanSpronsen et al. (2022) focusing on medical laboratory science and Whelan’s (2022) focus on the scope and nature of social work, as well as Wiggins et al. (2022a) examination of the shifting scope of practice of the chiropractic profession and other health care professions Wiggins et al., 2022b. Wright (2022) illustrates how symbolic boundaries are produced in the teaching profession, while Jeong and Kim (2022) consider the impact of BIM on the scope and focus of the architectural profession.

An encouraging insight, as we consider the construct’s relevance to society and the sociological debate on work, is that, although in the main there is limited conceptual engagement with what a profession is, this review of papers has revealed a strong interest in professions. It is interesting that a broad range of journals are represented in these discussions. Summarizing the analysis in terms of topical focus, is equally illuminating for the discussion and opens new avenues for more nuanced analysis.

The continued dominance of research into the medical profession is supported by this review and its preliminary results. However, in addition to the thematic focus in the medical profession still emphasizing issues of representivity in terms of gender and race, the theme of interest on the importance of ensuring diversity, equity and inclusion also emerged as an area of emphasis in papers focusing on the legal profession. While the traditional emphasis on health professions persists, the implications of digitalisation (Innes et al., 2022; Ionescu-Feleagă et al., 2022), the need to address diversity and cultural competence in professions, and the recognition of work change with distinct implications for the scopes of practice of different professions across countries, remains topical for many journals and scholars. In the main, this finding reinforces the social embeddedness of professions.