I think it's a form of mass noun.

You got it!

Or you can call it a "non-specific singular," which is any singular noun without a "the" in front of it, especially when it's in a general sense like your instances.

Thanks. It is hard for me to explain why it sounds odd. No doubt a label will help.

It probably sounds odd to you because you're thinking of concrete "publications", which is a count noun. We don't tend to say "three volumes of publication" the way we say "three sheets of paper" or "three grains of rice". In the phrase "as it appears in publication", the word "publication" belongs in the same category as abstract mass nouns like "science" and "typography"; it refers to the act of publishing and the whole of all things ever published everywhere.

The fact that nouns aren't pluralized when used as modifiers, as in "substance abuse" and "dog catcher", is unrelated.