China's publishing industry has demonstrated a trend of high-quality development in recent years, with significant progress in both book and journal publishing. Within this context, how professional publishers can realize the synergistic development of books and journals has emerged as an important factor in promoting the innovation and sustainable development of the publishing industry. This paper explores the implementation pathways, challenges, and future direction of book and journal synergistic development from three aspects. First, this study summarizes the prevailing approaches to book and journal synergistic development, focusing on the planning and publishing of individual books, and the integration of book and journal resources. Through case studies of the Science Press, the People's Health Publishing House, and the Chemical Industry Publishing House, it analyzes successful experience of book and journal synergistic publishing, such as leveraging journal expert resources and the advantages of hot areas, developing high-quality academic monographs, and enhancing the engagement of authors and readers through integrated book and journal resources to achieve a win-win situation. Second, the analysis identifies the main challenges in the synergistic development of books and journals, including the disparate economic benefits of books and journals, the differences in publishing operational models, and the lack of management mechanisms. Taking the Science Press as an example, this paper analyzes the small proportion of journals in the overall revenue of the publishing house, which leads to their under-prioritization. Additionally, it explores the differences between books and journals in terms of brand building, publication cycle, business model, etc., as well as the differences between domestic and international publishers’ management mechanism of books and journals synergistic development. Finally, this study proposes the countermeasures to realize the synergistic development of books and journals through project cooperation and building academic community by combining with the practical experience of Chemical Industry Press (CIP). Through the collaborative planning of projects such as “Chemical Process Enhancement” and “Chemical Carbon Neutralization”, CIP achieved mutual benefits for both books and journals, and created academic communities through the establishment of professional committees and the organization of academic conferences to promote the long-term synergistic development of books and journals. This paper also examines the new opportunities presented by emerging technologies and knowledge services for the synergistic development of books and journals, and proposes that professional publishers should actively build knowledge service platforms and utilize the Internet, big data and other technologies to promote the innovative models of synergistic development of books and journals. This paper emphasizes that high-quality science and technology journals and books are the basis for synergistic development, while thorough exploitation of publishing resources and knowledge service platform development are the key for future advancement. The synergistic development of books and journals helps to enhance the brand influence of publishers, and provides a broader platform for academic research and knowledge dissemination. Scientific and technological publishers should actively learn from the robust knowledge service systems of international publishers, analyze their own strengths and resources, establish clear knowledge service development objectives, and determine whether to choose a comprehensive platform or focus on a specific field, thereby providing a platform for the coordinated development of books and journals.