Systematics and Biodiversity is devoted to whole-organism biology. It is a quarterly, international, peer-reviewed, life science journal, without page charges, which is published by Taylor & Francis for The Natural History Museum, London. The criterion for publication is scientific merit. Systematics and Biodiversity documents the diversity of organisms in all natural phyla, through taxonomic papers that have a broad context (not single species descriptions), while also addressing topical issues relating to biological collections, and the principles of systematics. It particularly emphasises the importance and multi-disciplinary significance of systematics, with contributions which address the implications of other fields for systematics, or which advance our understanding of other fields through taxonomic knowledge, especially in relation to the nature, origins, and conservation of biodiversity, at all taxonomic levels.

The journal does not publish single species descriptions, monographs or applied research nor alpha species descriptions. Taxonomic manuscripts must include modern methods such as cladistics or phylogenetic analysis.