Enhancing the professional competence of editors is an inevitable requirement for high-quality development of publishing industry and a crucial task in building a publishing powerhouse. Based on the theory of transformative learning, this paper explores issues related to transformative learning for editors aimed at enhancing their professional competence, thereby providing a structured pathway and support for editors to advance step by step with the "assistance" of conscious transformative learning and acquire sustainable professional development capabilities. This paper first analyzes the internal structure of editors' professional competence in the new era, presenting that it comprises a logical system with three dimensions: value, practice, and motivation. The value dimension, determined by the political attribute of publishing, reflects editors' ideological stance, professional cognition, and emotional identification. The practice dimension, determined by the practical attribute of publishing, embodies the key competencies and knowledge levels that editors possess for their publishing jobs, and directly determine their competence in publishing work. The motivation dimension, determined by the developmental attribute of publishing, reflects the understanding and emphasis on the dynamic evolution of editors' professional competence, and encompasses editors' sensitivity to the ever-changing publishing environment and social demands. These three dimensions of value, practice, and motivation in editors' professional competence are distinct yet interact with each other. The competence in the value dimension guides the direction of publishing, the one in the practice dimension determines the effectiveness of publishing work, and the one in the motivation dimension provides the impetus for development. Subsequently, this paper analyzes the concept of transformative learning theory and its three key elements: prior experience, critical reflection, and rational dialogue. From the perspective of this theory, it proposes that transformative learning for editors’ professional competence enhancement involves effectively internalizing knowledge and skills into the competencies required for editorial practice through effective transformation in a rich, vivid, and ongoing publishing context. It is a self-directed, individualized learning process where editors engage in "purposeful pursuit driven by need" professional learning through critical, reflective, and generative transformative learning in publishing practice, thereby enhancing their professional competence in real publishing practice through "participation". Based on the aforementioned analysis, this paper proposes autonomous action strategies for promoting the enhancement of editors' professional competence through transformative learning. These strategies include: tracking and empowerment, where editors utilize individual experiences, engage in deep thinking and analysis, and activate their prior experiences in response to real needs for problem-solving; (2) reflective retrospection, where critical reflection is the breakthrough point, emphasizing critical reflection from the perspective of active self-construction; and (3) synergy of thought and action, where rational dialogue is focused on, collaborating fully with "significant others" to refine cognitive and practical experience systems and continuously generate new wisdom for publishing practice. Consequently, in the autonomous action of transformative learning, editors should effectively and appropriately adjust their professional understanding at the right time, fully leverage their subjective initiative and "re-creative" abilities, reconstruct the meaning structure of their work, overcome professional growth bottlenecks, achieve professional development and enhancement of professional competence, and enhance the effectiveness of publishing practice with a high degree of professional consciousness.