The journal Scripta Islandica aims to be a Scandinavian exponent for the interest in West Nordic matters: primarily Iceland, but also The Faroes and Norway as well as the Nordic cultures on Greenland, The Orkneys and Shetland. Scripta Islandica welcomes scholarly contributions on all subjects in Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish, as well as English and German.

Scripta Islandica contains a section for debate on current issues and it also publishes reviews of scholarly books. Publishers or individual authors are invited to submit for review books on West Nordic topics. Copies of the review will be sent to the book company or the author as soon as the journal has been published. When a review does not come into question, the book will be returned if so desired.

Scripta Islandica has long been receiving financial support from Vetenskapsrådet (Swedish Research Council), formerly from Humanistisk-samhällvetenskapliga forskningsrådet (Swedish Council for Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences). The journal follows the guide-lines for refereed periodicals with anonymous assessment and approval of all articles by two independent and external referees, experts on the topic and of good academic standing. On the home-page of the journal there is a link to the style-sheet to be used.