Specific materials discussed are metals, ceramics and semiconductors at all length scales, and published research endeavors explore the functional or mechanical behavior of these materials.

Articles tend to focus on the materials science and engineering aspects of discovery, characterization, development (including advances), structure, chemistry, theory, experiment, modeling, simulation, physics processes (thermodynamics, mechanics, etc.

The journal also publishes comments on papers published in both Acta Materialia and Scripta Materialia and "Viewpoint Sets", which are sets of short articles invited by guest editors.

The editor-in-chief is Gregory S. Rohrer, who also edits Acta Materialia.

[2] It was renamed Scripta Metallurgica et Materialia in 1990, finally obtaining its current name in 1996.