The Year Books of Polar Law includes:
- human rights issues, such as autonomy and self-government vs. self-determination, the rights of indigenous peoples to land and natural resources and cultural rights and cultural heritage, indigenous traditional knowledge,
- local, national, regional and international governance issues,
- environmental law, climate change, security and environment implications of climate change, protected areas and species,
- regulatory, governance and management agreements and arrangements for marine environments, marine mammals, fisheries conservation and other biological/mineral/oil resources,
- law of the sea, the retreating sea ice, continental shelf claims,
- territorial claims and border disputes on both land and at sea,
- peace and security, dispute settlement,
- jurisdictional and other issues re the exploration, exploitation and shipping of oil, gas and minerals, bio prospecting,
- trade law, potential shipping lines through the northwest and northeast passages, maritime law and transportation law, and
- the roles and actual involvement of international organizations in the Polar Regions, such as the Arctic Council, the Antarctic Treaty System, the European Union, the International Whaling Commission, the Nordic Council, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the United Nations, as well as NGOs.
While some of the articles are submitted directly to the Yearbook, others are based on presentations made at the Polar Law Symposia, held annually.
A first draft of the manuscript is submitted before each annual Symposium in September. After the symposium authors will have the opportunity to make revisions to their papers and the final paper ready for peer review and publication must be submitted before the end of each year. All papers to be submitted for publication in the Yearbook of Polar Law should comply with style guidelines issued by Brill Publishing. All manuscripts for submission to the Yearbook of Polar Law should be submitted by email to the Director of the Polar Law Institute Embla Eir Oddsdóttir, embla@polarlaw.is