Aging Collection Marks First of Many Interdisciplinary Troves for Researchers

In the first of what will be a monthly series, SAGE Publishing will open up articles in a specific area of public interest – note, not in a specific discipline – to help researchers pursue knowledge outside of their usual silos.

This month, SAGE (the parent of Social Science space) launched an interdisciplinary microsite on Aging Population. The microsite is intended as a hub for research published on the field of aging across all a wide variety of social science, science, technology and medical subjects. The material, numbering in the hundreds of journal articles, draws from SAGE’s extensive stable of academic journals spanning these same areas, whether from titles directly focused on aging such as The Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry and Neurology to those which a less direct association, such as Indoor and Built Environment.

To fully understand the impact of an aging population on society and how to manage this, SAGE argues, it is vital to take an interdisciplinary approach to learning and research. The impact of technology in care homes, elderly employees in the workplace, and the effects of caring for elderly relatives on mental health are all areas that require the knowledge of a variety of experts.

Among the specific content breakdowns on the microsite are Technology and Mental Health, Aging and the Internet, Media Representations of the Elderly, Elder/Palliative Care, Pharmacology, Dementia and Aging and Social Policy. Some of the specific high-profile pieces in the collection are Robin Mills et al.’s “Grandfatherhood: Shifting Masculinities in Later Life,” from Sociology;  Vicki Winstead’s “You Can teach an Old Dog New Tricks” from the Journal of Applied Gerontology; and “Why We Need Research on Autism and Aging,” from Cos Michael’s article in Autism. Access to the articles does require library or subscription access to the journal, although individual articles can be purchased directly.

The microsite includes links to special issues on aging issues, such as last September’s volume on aging from the journal Cell Transplantation.

SAGE will continue to roll out new microsites every month. Future issues to be covered include women’s right and gender equality, big data, and the patient experience.