[2] It covers a range of topics broadly related to the fields of polar, glaciological, and high-mountain research.

Though the journal originally published only on topics within the natural sciences, the current version of the journal includes contributions from an expanded range of polar and high-mountain research disciplines, including biology and ecology, geology and geophysics, geodesy and glaciology, permafrost, oceanography, climate and meteorology, history and social sciences, education, and outreach and knowledge transfer.

[3] The journal publishes scientific articles (without original results), review articles, reports for the polar community, teaching materials or concepts, and book reviews, alongside news and updates from the German Society for Polar Research, the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists Germany Board, and relevant conference reports.

In the 1970s, the separation of news and communications from peer-reviewed original research articles resulted in its change from a newsletter to a scientific journal.

[7] John H. Roscoe, an American scientist, named Polarforschung Glacier in East Antarctica in honor of the journal, following its discovery during Operation Highjump.