Sibthorp was forced to downsize the magazine's London offices near the Strand—which had once been the location for women's classes, lecture courses and meetings—to a single room, before relocating to her home in suburban West Hampstead in 1895.

[5] The magazine's decline has been attributed to Sibthorp's refusal to follow the emerging "'New Journalism' formula of information, gossip and entertainment", which led to Shafts' loss of readers to competing publications.

[7] In 1897, in the regular section titled "What the Editor Means", Sibthorp described the magazine's mission:[8]The aim of Shafts is to awaken thought; to induce people to ask why, to question—Is the condition of things I see around me right and just?

[10] As noted by Claudia Nelson in her book Invisible Men, Shafts "offered little factual reportage" and instead largely consisted of opinion pieces, correspondence columns, short stories, and poetry.

[13] Kate Flint notes in her book The Woman Reader, 1837–1914, that Shafts was one of few feminist periodicals at the time that promoted the furthering of women's rights through education in traditionally male-oriented domains, rather than through protection and control.