Enabling impact
As an independent company, we measure success not by our share price but by how we support the development of ideas through the research process to scholarship that is certified, taught, and applied. Our freedom as an independent company enables us to “do more” to support an equitable academic future, further disciplines that drive social change, and to help social and behavioral science make a positive impact on the world. Here we outline some of that work in the academic sphere and beyond.
Supporting teaching, learning and research
In 2022, Sage focused our support within the academic sphere on developing impactful research and teaching through supporting skills acquisition, fostering critical thinking, and driving research methods innovation.
Funding new software solutions
Sage’s Concept Grant program funds new software that supports social science research. In 2022, Sage awarded £15,000 to Causal Map, a tool that identifies and visualizes causal connections in speech and writing, as well as five £2,000 grants for tools in earlier stages of development, such as a tool that helps social scientists perform more sophisticated video analyses and a machine-learning tool to synthesize qualitative evidence.
A community of methods support for instructors
We launched the Sage Research Methods Teaching platform, which supports social science lecturers in finding and sharing materials for teaching quantitative research methods. The platform provides a forum for researchers to promote pedagogical advances and a space for researchers to build networks, seek inspiration, and share resources. The platform was jointly developed by Sage, the Nuffield Foundation, and the Economic and Social Research Council in the UK.
Case Study
Learn more about Sage’s third annual Critical Thinking Bootcamp and access the toolkit.
Making critical thinkers of today’s students
Against a global backdrop of rampant mis- and disinformation, Sage continues to help instructors foster critical thinking skills in their students.
For the third year, we ran a free, half-day "Critical Thinking Bootcamp" for librarians and instructors to encourage critical thinking in and outside of the classroom. This year’s boot camp focused on tech with discussions on algorithms, artificial intelligence, and tech ethics.
Skills development for first-time researchers
From June through November, we hosted a series of free webinars to support researchers at the beginning stages of their researching careers. Featuring speakers from various disciplines addressing topics such as how to select a journal, how to write an article, peer review, and mentorship, the free webinars have been seen 22,000 times (and remain available) with registrants from 156 countries.
Fostering trust in research
To mark Peer Review Week 2022, Sage shared a series of posts and resources on “Creating and Supporting Trust in Research.” Articles included an introduction to Sage’s research integrity manager and Research Integrity Group and tips on how to be an ethical reviewer.
Supporting the higher ed community in developing nations and across the globe
Through our partnership with Research4Life, we offer free or low-cost access to our journals and a large collection of our eBooks at more than 8,000 institutions in more than 100 low- and middle-income countries.
Sponsored the Researchers at Risk program to cover salary, research expenses, and living costs to researchers and their dependents exposed to immediate threat by conflicts such as the war in Ukraine so that they can conduct their work in the UK.
Sage and Electronic Information for Libraries partnered to grant access to education, learning, and research materials to libraries in developing and transition economy countries.
Donated funds and physical IT equipment to Computer Aid to provide the University of Zimbabwe with equipment and training to improve digital skills.
We have donated books to Book Aid International for over 10 years. In 2022, we donated 15,129 books to over 180 partners in 26 countries.
We waive ‘gold’ open access article processing charges (APCs) for a broad selection of low- and middle-income countries.
Enabling library impact
Sage believes that librarians are central to the teaching, learning, and research across campus, and in 2022, we looked for new ways to enable librarian impact. For example, in a series of listening sessions, librarians indicated that they want support to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion in the library; to assist with their own leadership and career development; and to cultivate their own research methods and publishing skills.
In response, we collected some of our own top library and information science research into a free-to-read microsite to support library professional development; fostering DEI; and library innovation more generally. We also put together a number of resources in an open libguide to support budding library scholars.
Technology from Sage offers a portfolio of products that help to amplify the library’s value on campus and prepare it for the future. In 2022, Lean Library (part of the portfolio) unlocked 872,190 paywalled resources, saving libraries an estimated $35 million.
Library awards and convenings
From the American Library Association Conference in Washington, DC to the UKSG Conference in Telford, UK to the Brazilian Congress of Librarianship and Documentation in Fortaleza, we sponsored many library conferences throughout 2022. We partnered with groups such as the American Library Association and Electronic Resources and Libraries (ER&L) to award librarians making positive change.
In 2022, Technology from Sage and ER&L launched the Innovators Award to recognize technological innovations in eResources librarianship, especially in support of pedagogy and/or research workflows across campus. Watch a video about the winners who improved the process for discovering the status of systems.
At the 2023 Charleston Library Conference, we organized seven sessions on topics that ranged from enhancing discovery in special collections, sharing student perspectives on the undergraduate workflow, and how libraries and publishers can work together to support librarian professional development.
Convening and connecting
Sage provides spaces—virtual and physical—where people can come together to share insights and discuss issues that will positively impact higher ed and beyond.
Highlights from our blogs
310 posts in 2022 reached roughly 300,000 unique visitors
200+ posts in 2022 reached 300,000+ unique visitors
131 posts in 2022 reached nearly 100,000 unique visitors
Top posts
Antiracist social science resources: A collection on Social Science Space
In 2022, we enhanced a section of Social Science Space featuring critical social and behavioral science work—generated through surveys of social scientists and expert consultation—that engages with the ongoing need to understand, analyze, resist, and dismantle racism. Sage published a large portion of the collection, and we made those pieces free-to-read. Our hope is that policymakers, organizers, organizations—both public and private—and the general public read and learn from these analyses, empirical results, and recommendations.
Events
Social Science Perspectives
Social Science Perspectives is a UK-based series of salon-style events, cohosted by the Campaign for Social Science, The Conversation, and Sage. The series launched in 2022 to bring together people from across media, academia, policy, publishing, and tech to build connections and discuss pressing issues. Discussions in 2022 covered the Russian invasion of Ukraine, disinformation, and information warfare.
Social Science FOO Camp
For the fifth year, Sage, O’Reilly, Meta (formerly Facebook), and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation gathered an eclectic mix of researchers, technologists, business leaders, funders, policymakers, and writers in the orbit of social and behavioral sciences and big data. Called the Social Science FOO camp, the thinkers explored the frontiers of social and behavioral research, their place in the 21st century, and the role they have to play in shaping society for the better. We aimed to get ideas flowing across traditional boundaries of discipline and profession and to help shape perspectives and priorities that can improve society.
Partnerships
In 2022, we continued our support of a number of organizations that enable the development of social and behavioral science. For example, in the U.S., we sponsored the Consortium of Social Science’s Advocacy Day in which 70 social science advocates met with members of Congress and their staff to advocate for increased funding for federal programs that support the SBS research community.
Research impact
Evolving impact metrics in 2022
Industry-wide methods to measure and celebrate research success rely on counting citations, which fails to capture how research influences and informs policy, practice, and the public. Sage is dedicated to changing the narrative on impact metrics for the long term.
How did Sage research make impact?
72,892
Number of Sage articles published online in 2022
256,404,288
Number of times Sage articles were read in 2022
Sage articles published in 2022 were referenced in:
869 policy documents
15,792
news stories
3,617
blog posts
497 Wikipedia entries
354,720 Twitter or Facebook mentions
Sharing free-to-access research in response to critical issues
In response to pressing social and political issues, Sage quickly curates and shares free-to-access research collections to enable critical research insights to reach wider audiences including researchers, policymakers, and the media. Our research collection Legacies of Colonialism: Exploring its Continued Impacts received an APEX Award of Excellence, and our collections exploring the Russia-Ukraine war, gun violence, gender equity, and structural racism received over 120,000 views combined in 2022.
Connecting research with the public
Introducing Plain Language Summaries (PLS)
In 2022, Sage began offering PLS, or nontechnical abstracts, as an option that authors can add to their articles in select journals. As an initial priority, Sage is adding the PLS function to a selection of journals publishing research representing oppressed, marginalized, or otherwise silenced communities in hopes these will expand the accessibility of articles to a non-research audience. Read more.
Enabling future research through Wikipedia
In August, we partnered with The Wikipedia Library to provide Wikipedia editors full-text access to all of our more than 1,100 journals. Our goal is to connect peer-reviewed research to those outside of academia for greater societal understanding.
“Societal impact has been fundamental to Sage from the very beginning. Our founder Sara Miller McCune has dedicated her life and career to social justice and societal impact. She was one of the first to publish in ethnic studies, women’s studies, policing, correction reform, and family studies. Today, her commitment to social justice inspires our research and book publishing and the work we do to connect that publishing beyond university walls.”
— Blaise Simqu (he/him), CEO
As a mission-driven publisher, Sage is free to do more to bring social and behavioral science beyond the ivory tower to make a positive impact on the world.
Events
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Sage has a long-standing partnership with the Campaign for Social Science (CfSS) (part of the UK’s Academy of Social Sciences) and has supported their annual lecture since 2013. In 2022, the lecture by Torsten Bell, chief executive of the Resolution Foundation, with responses from Shreya Nanda and Arun Advani, addressed the urgent cost of living crisis in the UK.
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Sage also collaborated with CfSS on a panel exploring how social science offers evidence-based perspectives to deepen our understanding of the climate crisis and why we need more cross-disciplinary approaches in solving this global challenge.
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In June, Sage sponsored the inaugural annual lecture of the UCL Collaborative Social Science Domain. The talk, delivered by Vineeta Sinha of the University of Singapore, proposed concrete strategies for pushing conceptual and methodological boundaries to reconfigure and decolonize disciplines.
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Sage held two events in 2022 celebrating the history and contributions of the LGBTQIA+ community. “LGBTQIA+ History: Law Breakers and Society Shakers” addressed the historical and contemporary legislation impacting the LGBTQIA+ community in the UK, and “Expressions of LGBTQIA+ Joy” discussed the vital role that self, community, art, and media play for the community and their allies.
"Our publishing program demonstrates our values system."
— Blaise Simqu (he/him), CEO
Impactful books publishing
Launched in 2022, our Social Science for Social Justice series provides a platform for academics, journalists, and activists of color to respond to pressing social issues. The series combines rigorous analysis with radical thinking in a format that is accessible both to academic and nonacademic readers.
Case study
Read the story behind the Social Science for Social Justice series by senior commissioning editor Delayna Spencer.
In 2022 Sage published two new titles—about slavery and artificial intelligence—in our What Do We Know and What Should We Do About...? series. These books spotlight social science by synthesizing the evidence and offering solutions to issues that are often misrepresented, oversimplified, or misunderstood in modern society and the media.
Championing equity in education
Corwin was founded on the belief that public education is the foundation of a thriving democracy and that “efficacy” is a matter of equity. Its publishing program is designed to enable every child to have a great education by design, not chance.
In 2022, notable releases included the following:
Our Problem, Our Path: Collective Antiracism for White People by Ali Michael and Eleonora Bartoli, which was touted by White Fragility’s Robin D’Angelo as “a must-read for starting and maintaining the life-long process of white anti-racist practice.”
Don’t Suspend Me! Second Edition by Jessica and John Hannigan, which helps educators find alternatives to out-of-school suspension, which is known to be both inequitable and harmful to students.
The Restorative Practices Playbook by Dominique Smith, Douglas Fisher, and Nancy Frey won the Corwin Book of the Year. Douglas Fisher was inducted into the Reading Hall of Fame at the 2022 Literacy Research Association Annual Conference.
Bringing social science to the world through Social Science Bites
Produced in association with Sage, the Social Science Bites podcast features illuminating interviews with leading social and behavioral scientists that help us understand the world we live in and the people we share it with. One new episode went up every month in 2022 with episodes covering topics such as the gender pay gap, decision making, and generational stereotypes and guests that included Holberg Prize winner Sheila Jasanoff and president of Britain’s Academy of Social Sciences Will Hutton.
Developing socially minded future business leaders
“Our new generation of leaders want something different from the corporations or organizations with whom they are aligned. They want diversity, equity, social impact, and social justice. We provide tools that help these students develop an understanding of these issues.”
— Blaise Simqu, CEO
Helping business faculty and students make a positive social impact, we offer resources that demonstrate how ideas can lead to real-world innovation, with an emphasis on ethical and sustainable practices. In 2022, we worked alongside like-minded groups to enable this.
For example, we partnered with Babson College for the Babson Collaborative Global Student Challenge, in which teams of students competed in projects that required them to think about the UN Sustainable Development Goals as they relate to business opportunities. In 2022 1,217 students from 17 countries presented 356 projects, with some of the best ideas resulting in real-world ventures.
The Financial Times’ Responsible Business Education Awards honor institutions and researchers who focus on people and planet, alongside profit. The academic research award went to research that addressed societal challenges, with evidence of impact on policy or practice—not just throwing light on social problems. Four winners and 17 runners-up came from Sage-published research in 2022.
Championing freedom of expression in 2022
In 2022, we saw increasing links between supporting a healthy equitable future in education and ensuring access to materials that promote that equity.