Each of its editors has left his own mark on the review: Gian Giacomo Migone (1984–90) and Cesare Cases (1990–1994) have contributed to specify the original project, whose recognizable physiognomy is indissolubly associated with Tullio Pericoli's portraits and graphics, as well as with Franco Matticchio's drawings.

Under Luca Rastello's (2000–2001) guidance, L'Indice inaugurated a new column, "Segnali" (Signals), focusing on cultural and political changes, as well as knotty issues in the society we live in.

Many distinguished Italian academics and intellectuals belong to the history of L’Indice: from those who gathered around Gian Giacomo Migone in 1984 (Piergiorgio Battaggia, Gian Luigi Beccaria, Riccardo Bellofiore, Mariolina Bertini, Eliana Bouchard, Loris Campetti, Cesare Cases, Enrico Castelnuovo, Gianfranco Corsini, Lidia De Federicis, Aldo Fasolo, Franco Ferraresi, Delia Frigessi, Luciano Gallino, Claudio Gorlier, Filippo Maone, Diego Marconi, Franco Marenco, Cesare Pianciola, Tullio Regge, Marco Revelli, Fabrizio Rondolino, Gianni Rondolino, Franco Rositi, Lore Terracini, Gian Luigi Vaccarino), to renowned contributors who have expressly written for the review, such as, among others, Norberto Bobbio, Franco Fortini, Aldo Natoli, Cesare Garboli, Claudio Magris, Vittorio Foa, Carlo Dionisotti, Salvatore Settis, Cesare De Seta, Sebastiano Timpanaro, Edoardo Sanguineti, Maria Corti, Cesare Segre, Alessandro Galante Garrone, Stefano Rodotà, Francesco Orlando, Carlo Ginzburg, Giulio Angioni, Paolo Nori, Enzo Collotti, Adriano Prosperi, Marcello De Cecco, Massimo D'Alema, Luciana Castellina.

The Editorial Board includes Enrico Alleva, Arnaldo Bagnasco, Andrea Bajani, Elisabetta Bartuli, Gian Luigi Beccaria, Mariolina Bertini (vicedirettore), Cristina Bianchetti, Bruno Bongiovanni, Guido Bonino, Giovanni Borgognone, Eliana Bouchard, Loris Campetti, Andrea Casalegno, Enrico Castelnuovo, Guido Castelnuovo, Alberto Cavaglion, Mario Cedrini, Anna Chiarloni, Sergio Chiarloni, Marina Colonna, Alberto Conte, Sara Cortellazzo, Piero Cresto-Dina, Lidia De Federicis, Piero de Gennaro, Giuseppe Dematteis, Tana De Zulueta, Michela di Macco, Aldo Fasolo (vicedirettore), Giovanni Filoramo, Delia Frigessi, Anna Elisabetta Galeotti, Gian Franco Gianotti, Claudio Gorlier, Davide Lovisolo, Giorgio Luzzi, Danilo Manera, Diego Marconi, Franco Marenco, Walter Meliga, Gian Giacomo Migone, Anna Nadotti, Alberto Papuzzi, Franco Pezzini, Cesare Pianciola, Telmo Pievani, Pierluigi Politi, Nicola Prinetti, Luca Rastello, Tullio Regge, Marco Revelli, Alberto Rizzuti, Gianni Rondolino, Franco Rositi, Lino Sau, Domenico Scarpa, Rocco Sciarrone, Giuseppe Sergi, Stefania Stafutti, Ferdinando Taviani, Mario Tozzi, Gian Luigi Vaccarino, Massimo Vallerani, Maurizio Vaudagna, Anna Viacava, Paolo Vineis, Gustavo Zagrebelsky.

Among topics covered one could mention as examples literary translation; the role China has come to play in Italy’s publishing; globalization; protection of cultural heritage; the Italian “Southern question”.

In 2007, L'Indice published a volume entitled “La cultura italiana tra autonomia e potere” (“The Italian Culture between Autonomy and Power”), the proceedings of a conference on the twenty years of the review held at the University of Turin (October 4, 2005).

[14] Starting from apparently national, country-specific interventions, the journal aimed at emphasizing the inherent unity of the European culture in a critical historical moment of the integration process, addressing specialists and the wider public at the same time.

Jeremy Treglown (then editor of The Times Literary Supplement), Frank Schirrmarcher (Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) and Thomas Ferenczi (Le Monde) joined Migone and Bourdieu in the editorial board.