The magazine features quarterly cover topics, broad surveys of developments in international relations (collectively referred to as the Global Notebook), outside perspectives, and interviews.

Cover topics in recent years have included analyses of the role agriculture plays in international development, the erosion of trust in modern institutions, and the trade-offs between compromise and defiance.

The HIR's website features exclusive content and active blogs on current events.

After monthly publication early on, the HIR pivoted to quarterly distribution, and began soliciting the perspectives of prominent figures in international relations.

[citation needed] Notable Harvard alumni to have been staff members of the Harvard International Review include Philip A. Brimmer, Erik Brynjolfsson, Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty, Bernard Hebda, Stephen A. Higginson, Ambassador Philip S. Kosnett, David Laibson, Simpsons writer Jeff Martin, Robert McCord, Marc Rotenberg, Phillip Steck, John Weston, and M. Edward Whelan III.