What's the difference between a user profile and a publication?

Profile page	Publication
Profile pages are for Medium accounts. Accounts are for individual users, and only accounts can write on Medium. Publications do not write. Profile pages are public-facing pages displaying content published by a specific user account. Profile pages are created automatically for every registered user account on Medium.	Publications are shared spaces for stories, usually co-staffed by multiple Medium users. A publication is created by a single Medium user account, who can then add other user accounts as editors and writers. As such, a publication is just a “container” for stories published by user accounts. It cannot publish stories by itself. Medium users can submit stories to publications using their Medium accounts, and stories published in publications are visible both on the author's personal profile page, and on the publication homepage.
A user account is associated with specific sign-in credentials such as an email address or social media accounts. Only people with access to those credentials can sign in to the account.	A publication doesn't have its own sign-in credentials. It is managed by user accounts who act as the owner or editor of the publication.
The URL scheme for a Medium profile page is: medium.com/@your-username or username.medium.com	The URL scheme for a publication on Medium is: medium.com/your-publication-name (no @ sign).
When a user account is deleted, all the content published by the account is removed from Medium. If the deleted account owned a publication, that publication is no longer accessible.	When a publication is deleted, its homepage is no longer accessible. All the content submitted to the deleted publication remains public, is automatically removed from the publication, any publication branding is removed, and can still be found on the authors' profile pages as a stand-alone post.

Profile page

Publication

Profile pages are for Medium accounts. Accounts are for individual users, and only accounts can write on Medium. Publications do not write.

Profile pages are public-facing pages displaying content published by a specific user account.

Profile pages are created automatically for every registered user account on Medium.

Publications are shared spaces for stories, usually co-staffed by multiple Medium users.

A publication is created by a single Medium user account, who can then add other user accounts as editors and writers.

As such, a publication is just a “container” for stories published by user accounts. It cannot publish stories by itself.

Medium users can submit stories to publications using their Medium accounts, and stories published in publications are visible both on the author's personal profile page, and on the publication homepage.

A user account is associated with specific sign-in credentials such as an email address or social media accounts.

Only people with access to those credentials can sign in to the account.

A publication doesn't have its own sign-in credentials.

It is managed by user accounts who act as the owner or editor of the publication.

The URL scheme for a Medium profile page is: medium.com/@your-username or username.medium.com

The URL scheme for a publication on Medium is: medium.com/your-publication-name (no @ sign).

When a user account is deleted, all the content published by the account is removed from Medium.

If the deleted account owned a publication, that publication is no longer accessible.

When a publication is deleted, its homepage is no longer accessible.

All the content submitted to the deleted publication remains public, is automatically removed from the publication, any publication branding is removed, and can still be found on the authors' profile pages as a stand-alone post.

Common questions

I have a branded publication, and would like the stories published by the publication to be shown as authored by the brand, not by individual people. How do I do that?

If you'd like your stories to be authored by your organization or brand, you will need to create a user account under the brand's name. You can use your brand's name as your username and display name, and upload its logo as the profile picture.

Once you've set up the account, add it as a writer or editor in your existing publication, and use it to publish content in your brand's name.

Can I delete the owner account and still keep the publication online?

No, you cannot. If you delete the user account which owns the publication, the publication will be taken offline.