Political Studies Association agrees new five-year publishing partnership with SAGE Publishing

Publishing Agreement – key elements:

The Political Studies Association (PSA) is delighted to announce that it has agreed a new five-year partnership with SAGE Publishing, starting in January 2026.

This agreement with SAGE Publishing means that the PSA will continue to produce its prestigious suite of international journals: Political Studies, Politics, Political Studies Review and the British Journal of Politics and International Relations as well as our quarterly magazine, Political Insight.

What does this agreement mean for the PSA, our members and wider community?

As the home of political studies and a leading UK learned society, this agreement provides the PSA with sound financial footing up until 2030. It enables us to invest, strategically, in the PSA’s charitable objectives and our members – as set out in our Strategic Plan 25-28. We are pleased to say that we have agreed an array of exclusive benefits for PSA members, including:

All PSA journals published in partnership with Sage Publishing are open submission, peer-reviewed publications which all members and the wider academic community can submit research article proposals to.
PSA members get free online access to 29 other journals, the Adam Matthew Archives, books, and reference works via SAGE knowledge, and the CQ Press library. Members also receive 35% discount on all Sage textbooks. For more information please see here.
Access to Sage Campus. This is a NEW benefit for our members; an online training platform with a brilliant range of courses specifically designed for social scientists. Along with access to SAGE research methods, these resources offer free introductory courses through to masterclasses in research planning, collecting, analysing, and managing data, communications and presentation and getting published – and so much more!
The international portfolio of all PSA journals published in partnership with SAGE Publishing help to support broad scholarly research and raise the profile and impact of the PSA and our journals internationally.
PSA journals are even more accessible to members, supporters and readers with many articles now published in digital open access format. With a global shift towards online-first publication our journals are accessible to readers in schools, colleges, and universities around the world.

This agreement secures sponsorship and support towards the PSA’s annual programme of academic prizes, annual international conference, and other events.

This partnership will also contribute to our Diverse Voices programme that supports PSA’s ongoing commitment to encourage equality, diversity, and inclusion across political studies through targeted activities and resources.

The PSA’s Chair, Professor Rose Gann said:

“We are delighted to be continuing our productive partnership with SAGE Publishing. Our collaboration over the past ten years has enabled our journals to flourish and grow in prestige, as well as to successfully navigate the changing and at times challenging academic publishing environment. This new publishing agreement is very welcome news. It provides the PSA with a sure financial footing from which it is now in a good position to achieve its strategic goals as set out in its Strategic Plan 2025-2028; support on-going work to diversify the profession; and to continue to support and showcase excellence in teaching, scholarship, and research across the discipline.”

SAGE Publishing’s Vice President (Research), Miranda Nunhofer added: “We are thrilled that the Political Studies Association has chosen to renew their contract with SAGE as their publishing partner. This renewal reflects our shared commitment to advancing knowledge, understanding, and learning, and promoting the development of political studies. We look forward to the next few years of close collaboration with the PSA, supporting and disseminating high-quality, impactful research from their leading suite of journals. Together, we will ensure that PSA journals continue to play a pivotal role in enabling research in politics and its related disciplines.”