As a pivotal vehicle and medium within the publishing sector dedicated to serving national strategies and disseminating mainstream values, thematic publishing has undertaken extensive and profound practical explorations. These endeavors not only provide a robust response to the pressing issues of our era but also provide an unprecedented real-world laboratory and a rich repository of empirical knowledge for the advancement of publishing academic theory. In recent years, thematic publishing has consistently expanded the boundaries in areas such as thematic planning, content expression, and integrated development, giving rise to a series of distinctive publishing phenomena and practical paradigms that embody Chinese characteristics and reflect the contemporary spirit. These dynamic practices have injected fresh theoretical momentum into publishing studies. Conversely, the proactive and guiding role of publishing academic theory is becoming increasingly prominent. Through systematic reflection and theoretical innovation, academia is constructing more robust conceptual frameworks and evaluative criteria. This theoretical consciousness and refinement, in turn, steers thematic publishing practice toward iterative upgrades in ideological depth, content quality, presentational forms, and communication efficacy. Consequently, a virtuous cycle of mutual enrichment and a synergistic co-evolution mechanism between practice and theory is being established. This paper, grounded in this dialectical relationship, proposes an in-depth analysis from three critical dimensions. First, it elucidates how the richness and contemporary relevance of thematic publishing practices provide a vibrant, living case library and a fertile source for theoretical innovation in publishing academia. Simultaneously, by pioneering new models in public engagement and cross-media integration, these practices expand the very boundaries of theoretical research, pushing scholarly inquiry into new territories. Second, the analysis examines the multiple perspectives through which thematic publishing empowers and enriches publishing theory. This investigation proceeds from three interconnected dimensions: the universality of cultural communication laws, which provides a macro-level lens for assessing dissemination efficacy; the guided and selective nature of content dissemination inherent to thematic publishing, which tests and refines general communication principles; and the systematic and standardized characteristics of its knowledge production, which offers a unique context to study how knowledge is organized, legitimized, and propagated. Third, the paper explores how publishing academic theory facilitates the systematic upgrading of thematic publishing across three key areas: content quality, communication effectiveness, and the industrial ecosystem. Theoretical insights into narrative structures and multimodal discourse inform enhancements in content depth and artistic expression. Theories drawn from communication studies guide the optimization of dissemination strategies for greater impact and resonance. Furthermore, critical theoretical inquiry into industrial chains, digital copyright, and sustainable business models provides the conceptual tools necessary to reshape and upgrade the entire industrial ecology surrounding thematic publishing. Through this tripartite framework, this paper aims to construct a meaningful dialogue between practice and theory. The ultimate objective is to provide substantive references for promoting the high-quality development of thematic publishing and for fostering genuine innovation in publishing academic theory, ensuring their parallel evolution to meet the challenges and opportunities of the modern era.