CQ Press
CQ Press is an academic publishing imprint specializing in American government, politics, and public policy reference content, operating under Sage Publications to serve academic libraries, university faculty, students, and policy researchers through institutional subscriptions.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded1923
- HeadquartersThousand Oaks, United States
- Headcount51–100
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What CQ Press does
CQ Press is an academic and professional publishing imprint specializing in American government, politics, and public policy content. Founded in 1923 as Editorial Research Reports and now operating as a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc. under Sage Publications, the company publishes CQ Researcher (44 in-depth, fact-checked reports annually), CQ Magazine (weekly congressional reporting), and a portfolio of specialized reference collections covering the U.S. Congress, Supreme Court, elections, and CQ Almanac (1945-2020). The core platform serves academic libraries, university faculty, students, and policy researchers through institutional subscriptions, with an optional Archive add-on providing access to 3,000+ historical reports dating to 1923.
The platform is delivered as a web-based content system with WCAG 2.2 AA accessibility compliance, DRM-free PDF downloads, and topic-based content organization across nearly 30 categories including Agriculture, Business, Defense, Education, Health, Law, Politics, and Science and Technology. Revenue derives primarily from annual institutional subscriptions managed through Sage Publications' Secure Center portal, supplemented by archive enhancement sales (plug-in purchases) and permissions/licensing fees. Pricing is quote-based, tiered by institution type, size, and content package, with annual billing cadence and 30-day free trials for prospective academic customers.
Go-to-market is sales-led, targeting academic libraries and universities globally, with channel support through Sage's institutional distribution infrastructure. The business does not offer a public API and explicitly prohibits text/data mining and LLM training in its terms of use. Headcount sits at 51-100 employees, consistent with a specialized editorial organization operating within a larger publishing conglomerate.
CQ Press firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- CQ Press
- Legal name
- CQ Press, A Division of Congressional Quarterly Inc.
- Website
- https://cqpress.sagepub.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 1923
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 51–100 employees
- Short description
- CQ Press is an academic publishing imprint specializing in American government, politics, and public policy reference content, operating under Sage Publications to serve academic libraries, university faculty, students, and policy researchers through institutional subscriptions.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
CQ Press industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Political Science Publishing
- NAICS
- Periodical Publishers (513120), Periodical Publishers (51312), Book Publishers (513130)
- SIC
- Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Government & Public Policy Publishing (Regulations, Gazettes, Legislative Tracking) (MPAJACAI)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Government, Public Policy & Regulatory Reference (Public Administration, Regulatory Guidance) (EDAGAGAK), Academic & Scholarly Journals Publishing (Peer-Reviewed) (MPAJABAC), News, Politics & Current Affairs Magazines (MPAJAEAO)
Keywords
Where CQ Press is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Thousand Oaks
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
CQ Press business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Institutional Subscriptions: CQ Press generates revenue primarily through annual institutional subscriptions providing access to CQ Researcher reports and archives. Subscriptions are managed through Sage Publications' Secure Center platform, with institutions paying based on their user base and content access levels.
- Archive Enhancement Sales: CQ Researcher Plus Archive, containing 3,000+ reports from 1923-1990, is available as a plug-in purchase for existing Researcher subscriptions, providing additional revenue from established institutional customers.
- Permissions and Licensing: Revenue generated from permissions requests for copying, reproducing, or using CQ Press content beyond individual research use, handled through Sage's Rights and Permissions Department.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Institutional subscription with full content access |
Go-to-market motion2 records
Distribution channels2 records
Marketing channels5 records
CQ Press product offering
Product offeringCore offering
CQ Press publishes authoritative research content on American government, politics, and public policy, distributed primarily through institutional subscriptions to academic libraries. Its flagship product, CQ Researcher, is an online publication providing 44 in-depth, unbiased, professionally fact-checked reports annually on political and social issues, with an archive of more than 3,000 reports dating back to 1923. The company also offers specialized digital collections covering Congress, the Supreme Court, elections, and public affairs, alongside reference books and encyclopedias.
Product overview
CQ Press is a publisher of authoritative research content on American government, politics, and public policy, operating as an imprint of Sage Publications. The company's product portfolio centers on CQ Researcher, an award-winning online publication providing in-depth, unbiased reports on political and social issues published 44 times a year, with an optional Archive add-on extending coverage back to 1923. CQ Press also offers multiple specialized collections including the Congress Collection, Supreme Court Collection, Voting and Elections Collection, CQ Almanac, and Public Affairs Collection, alongside CQ Magazine (weekly congressional reporting), CQ Press Books, Encyclopedia of American Government, Politics in America, and Supreme Court Yearbook. The platform is primarily distributed through institutional subscriptions serving academic libraries, researchers, students, and instructors across social science disciplines including political science, public policy, education, journalism, and international affairs.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- CQ Researcher: Award-winning weekly online publication providing authoritative and accessible content and analysis on newsworthy social and political issues.
- Congress Collection
- CQ Almanac
- CQ Magazine
- CQ Press Books
- Encyclopedia of American Government
- Politics in America
- Public Affairs Collection
- Supreme Court Collection
- Supreme Court Yearbook
- Voting and Elections Collection
Products and services
- CQ Researcher Award-winning online publication providing in-depth, unbiased coverage of political and social issues, published 44 times a year, researched and written by seasoned journalists, professionally fact-checked, and footnoted. Targets academic researchers, students, and faculty in social sciences.
- CQ Researcher Plus Archive Premium product combining the most recent 10 years of CQ Researcher reports with an archive of more than 3,000 reports going back to 1923. Available as a plug-in purchase for Researcher subscriptions.
- CQ Magazine Weekly reporting on the U.S. Congress, providing timely analysis of congressional activities for institutional subscribers.
- Congress Collection Comprehensive guide to the U.S. Congress, including floor votes, providing detailed coverage of legislative activities.
- CQ Almanac
Companies that use CQ Press
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
CQ Press technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
CQ Press partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
One partnership is on record.
- Sage PublicationscoreCQ Press operates as an imprint of Sage Publications, with the cqpress.sagepub.com website hosted on Sage's platform infrastructure. Sage manages subscription billing, customer support, and platform operations for CQ Press products.
Scale indicators4 records
Recent moves7 records
Expansion highlights4 records
CQ Press competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Gale (Cengage): Gale publishes academic research databases (e.g., Gale In Context, Academic OneFile, GVRL) sold to academic and school libraries. It is a direct competitor with comparable institutional subscription distribution and reference/periodical content.
- HeinOnline: HeinOnline specializes in U.S. and international law and government documents, distributing scholarly legal and political content to academic libraries. It overlaps significantly with CQ Press's Congress Collection, Supreme Court Collection, and Voting and Elections Collection.
- JSTOR: JSTOR provides a digital library of academic journals, books, and primary sources to academic libraries via institutional subscription. It overlaps directly with CQ Researcher's role as a scholarly research database for political science and social sciences.
- ProQuest (Clarivate): ProQuest aggregates scholarly periodicals, government documents, and primary sources distributed to academic libraries globally. It is a direct competitor in the institutional subscription space and competes for the same library budget dollars as CQ Press.
- EBSCO Information Services: EBSCO is a major aggregator of research databases (EBSCOhost) sold via institutional subscription to academic libraries. It competes for the same library database budget as CQ Press and offers comparable discovery and content access workflows.
Emerging players
- Brookings Institution Press: Brookings Institution Press publishes books, reports, and policy briefs on U.S. public policy. It overlaps with CQ Press Books and CQ Researcher as a think-tank source of policy analysis and is increasingly distributed to academic libraries.
Broad incumbents
- SAGE Publications (parent's broader portfolio): SAGE publishes over 1,000 journals and hundreds of books across social sciences and humanities, including political science and public policy. CQ Press is an imprint of SAGE but its books and reference works overlap with SAGE's own political science list, making SAGE a sibling/incumbent in adjacent categories.
- Oxford University Press (Academic Division): Oxford University Press publishes scholarly journals, books, and reference works in political science and public policy, including the Oxford Handbooks series. It competes broadly with CQ Press Books and is a much larger incumbent across academic publishing.
- Cambridge University Press (Academic Division): Cambridge University Press publishes political science and public policy journals, books, and reference works distributed via institutional channels. It is a broad incumbent competitor to CQ Press Books and CQ Researcher in the political science research market.
Others
- Congress.gov: Congress.gov is the official U.S. government legislative information portal providing free access to bills, votes, and member profiles. It competes with CQ Press's Congress Collection as a free alternative source for primary legislative data used by the same library patrons.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks1 record
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
CQ Press social profiles
Digital presenceCQ Press compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance1 record
CQ Press financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
CQ Press leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles1 record
CQ Press funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
CQ Press M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about CQ Press
What does CQ Press do?
CQ Press publishes authoritative research content on American government, politics, and public policy, distributed primarily through institutional subscriptions to academic libraries. Its flagship product, CQ Researcher, is an online publication providing 44 in-depth, unbiased, professionally fact-checked reports annually on political and social issues, with an archive of more than 3,000 reports dating back to 1923. The company also offers specialized digital collections covering Congress, the Supreme Court, elections, and public affairs, alongside reference books and encyclopedias.
Is CQ Press a public or private company?
CQ Press is a private company. It is classified as corporate owned and is currently operating.
When was CQ Press founded?
CQ Press was founded in 1923. It employs 51 to 100 people.
Where is CQ Press based?
CQ Press is headquartered in Thousand Oaks, United States, in the North America region.
How does CQ Press make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Institutional Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are archive Enhancement Sales and permissions and Licensing.
Who are CQ Press's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Gale (Cengage), HeinOnline, JSTOR, ProQuest (Clarivate) and EBSCO Information Services. Brookings Institution Press is listed as an emerging player. Broad incumbents are SAGE Publications (parent's broader portfolio), Oxford University Press (Academic Division) and Cambridge University Press (Academic Division). Congress.gov is listed as an others.
Does CQ Press have an API?
No public API is recorded for CQ Press.
What industry is CQ Press in?
CQ Press's product category is Political Science Publishing. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJACAI, Government & Public Policy Publishing (Regulations, Gazettes, Legislative Tracking), with a secondary code of EDAGAGAK, Government, Public Policy & Regulatory Reference (Public Administration, Regulatory Guidance). Its NAICS code is 513120 and its SIC code is 2721.