The world’s leading independent academic and professional publisher, SAGE, celebrated its 50 years recently. MD of SAGE India shares some parts of the glorious journey

When Sara Miller McCune and George McCune set up SAGE Publication in 1965 in New York city, they never thought they would witness the company leaving a footprint in all the countries of the world. SAGE is a publishing house synonymous with academics, journalism, medical science and literature. SAGE recently celebrated its golden jubilee at a grand event at the Taj Palace Hotel.

Sara cut the cake and hoped the company “completes another 50 years and continues to evolve with time and meet every need of its customers.” Vivek Mehra MD of SAGE India said "SAGE was set up to bring together the best of text and present it to the readers.The journey till now epitomises the belief and commitment that SAGE has always stood for — to publish thoughtful works of scholarship by and for educators and other scholars throughout the world. It has been a glorious run so far.”

From its first publication Urban Quarterly in 1965 to over 800 books and 800 journals in a year, SAGE has grown leaps and bounds over the years. In 2005 SAGE was at the cusp of breaking free from traditional reference publishing. This was a game-changer and by 2006 all SAGE journals were digital and a new product stream, SAGE Journals Online, was born.

E-books were the next to arrive and SAGE US’ formal entry into college textbook publishing was on course. Globally SAGE was waking up to the idea of cost management and scaling efficiency overseas. It began by opening a dedicated sales office in Asia Pacific in 2006 (formally opened in 2007). In 2006 the first foray into off-shoring began and India provided the support. Acquisitions continued as journals were added and then entire databases were added.

SAGE came to India in 1981. It started operations on a small scale and soon blossomed into a flourishing business catering to every publishing needs. In the last three and a half decades, SAGE India has been able to attain heights greater than what its MD and CEO Vivek Mehra had anticipated. “It started off as a single person operation from the rooftop of a private residence.

 It grew to a small well-respected publisher within the first decade. In the second decade it emerged as a serious contender in both book and journals publishing. Today SAGE India publishes more than 100 book titles and 69 journals a year,” said Mehra who joined the company almost 10 years ago.

Since then, the company has achieved a special place for itself in the world of academics by publishing and supporting quality research that transforms the society and the understanding of individual, groups and culture. SAGE India has also been an active and equal partner in this journey of transition and change. Since its inception SAGE India has been consciously fulfilling SAGE’s commitment to promote social sciences research as envisioned by the founders.

Today SAGE India has an active front list of over 1,200 book titles and continues to focus on developing technologies that serve the library and student community.

With time SAGE has ventured into the digital format, too, and Mehra feels that both the print and the digital media have their own strengths and weaknesses. Each of these presents content differently and caters to different markets.

Mehra also unveiled the logo of SAGE Bhasha, an endeavour to publish content in regional languages, on the occasion. The first two regional languages that the company will roll out will be Hindi and Marathi and one language will be added with every passing year. “SAGE remains committed to quality publishing in India. SAGE Bhasha is another form of this commitment.

 Indian languages have a larger audience and readership than English. Yet there remains a large gap between supply and market demand. With its expertise in English language publishing, SAGE will help raise the bar for Indian language publishing. Initially the imprint will have translated works but in 2016-17 we will begin publishing original works,” concluded Mehra.