This was the first season of the competition being part of the newly formed Scottish Professional Football League after the merger of the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League.

[2] Queen of the South were promoted as 2012–13 Scottish Second Division champions, with Alloa Athletic promoted after defeating Dunfermline Athletic 3-1 on aggregate in the play-off final.

It was a close race for the championship, which offered automatic promotion to the 2014–15 Scottish Premiership.

Dundee went into the final day in first place, but Hamilton Academical and Falkirk also had a chance of winning the championship.

In the first half of the season each team plays every other team twice (home and away) and then do the same in the second half of the season, for a total of 36 games.