Sage Publishing

SAGE is a global academic publisher of books, journals, and a growing suite of library products and services.

Driven by the belief that social and behavioral science has the power to improve society, we focus on publishing impactful research, enabling robust research methodology, and producing high quality educational resources that support instructors to prepare the citizens, policymakers, educators and researchers of the future. We publish more than 1,000 journals and 600 new books globally each year, as well as library resources that include archives, data, case studies, video, and technologies for discovery, access, and engagement. SAGE’s founder, Sara Miller McCune, has transferred control of the company to an independent trust, guaranteeing its independence indefinitely.

Our mission is building bridges to knowledge — supporting the development of ideas through the research process to scholarship that is certified, taught, and applied.

In 1965, a 24-year-old Sara Miller founded SAGE Publishing with the belief that social science research can and must play an important role in shaping society. With $500 in start-up capital, a one-room office in New York City, and the mentorship of her future husband George McCune, Sara started the company’s first journal—the first of what now numbers more than 1000.

The new company, named after its founders, SAra and GEorge moved to Southern California in 1966, and within its first decade had established an office in London, the start of SAGE’s international presence.

SAGE is known for its commitment to the social sciences: the Little Green Book Series; an expansive reference collection; research methods journals, videos, and texts; and content emphasizing critical thinking, data analysis, and computational tools are all published with the aim of training current and future social scientists.

Today, Sara remains the majority shareholder and has set up an estate plan that guarantees the company’s independence. Her gift enables the company to invest with confidence in missions that benefit the society of tomorrow.

SAGE Publishing, formerly SAGE Publications, is an American independent publishing company founded in 1965 in New York by Sara Miller McCune and now based in Newbury Park, California.

It publishes more than 1,000 journals, more than 800 books a year, reference works and electronic products covering business, humanities, social sciences, science, technology and medicine. SAGE also owns and publishes under the imprints of Corwin Press (since 1990), CQ Press (since 2008), Learning Matters (since 2011), and Adam Matthew Digital (since 2012).

SAGE was founded in 1965 in New York City by Sara Miller (later Sara Miller McCune) with Macmillan Publishers executive George D. McCune as a mentor; the name of the company is an acronym formed from the first letters of their given names. SAGE relocated to Southern California in 1966, after Miller and McCune married; McCune left Macmillan to formally join the company at that time. Sara Miller McCune remained president for 18 years, shifting to board chairman in 1984 (and still retains the title of executive chairman). The couple continued to develop the company together until George McCune's death in 1990.

In 2008, SAGE along with two other companies sued Georgia State University for alleged copyright infringement due to faculty providing excerpts of materials to students. The case concluded in 2020 with the publishing companies losing.

In 2018, SAGE reported a mean 2017 gender pay gap of 13.1% for its UK workforce, while the median was 10.3%.

In 2019, products by SAGE like Lean faced opposition by part of the academic community for being owned by a for-profit, as opposed to open data, open source and non-profit products like Unpaywall which facilitates usage of open access works.