The increasing involvement of scholars in journal management has become a prevailing trend, highlighting the need for academic journals to strengthen the training of scholar editors as an effective way to enhance their competitiveness and promote high-quality development. The role of scholar editors and the nature of scholar editors have long been topics in the journal industry, yet no consensus has been reached. From the perspective of assessment requirements, journal editors are expected to develop as professionals in publishing and editing. However, it is particularly challenging for full-time editors of scientific, technical, and medical (STM) journals to become top scholars in their fields. Therefore, while possessing academic insight and ability to distinguish scientific research achievements in one or more disciplines, STM journal editors should engage in practical and theoretical research on journal publishing, thereby establishing themselves as experts in journal editing and publishing and transforming from managing editors to scholar editors. Existing studies have explored the status quo and challenges for journal editors engaging in publishing research, primarily focusing on their academic contributions, and revealed that among STM journal editors, some issues still persist, such as insufficient understanding of the importance of publishing research, limited initiative, and ineffective methodologies. There is a gap in targeted research on how engagement in publishing research influences the career development of STM journal editors. Since the career development of STM journal editors is central to the high-quality development of STM journals, engaging in publishing research is important to promote their academic status and career development. This study employs in-depth interviews and grounded theory methodology to explore the impact of engagement in publishing research on the career development of STM journal editors. Based on three-level coding analysis of interviews with 22 STM journal editors, each with over five years of editorial experiences and engagement in publishing research, this study reveals that publishing research contributes career promotion, organizational recognition, improvements in self-efficacy, and professional responsibility of STM journal editors. Moreover, it broadens their career development pathways. The findings underscore the necessity for STM journal editors to recognize the significance of publishing research, integrate scientific literacy with humanistic literacy, and apply research findings to the practice of journal management. STM journal editors’ choice of their career paths determines the extent of their career development. Engaging in publishing research is an effective way for their transition into scholar editors. Moreover, a model is constructed to illustrate the impact mechanism of the engagement in publishing research on career development of STM journal editors. This model visually presents the impact of engagement in publishing research on the career development, providing a theoretical basis for STM journal editors to refine their career development strategies.