Founded in 1981 by two of the pre-eminent control theorists, Roger Brockett and Jan Willems, Systems & Control Letters is one of the leading journals in the field of control theory. The aim of the journal is to allow dissemination of relatively concise but highly original contributions whose high initial quality enables a relatively rapid review process. All aspects of the fields of systems and control are covered, especially mathematically-oriented and theoretical papers that have a clear relevance to engineering, physical and biological sciences, and even economics. Application-oriented papers with sophisticated and rigorous mathematical elements are also welcome. Expressly excluded from SCL's scope are the following topics: fractional-order systems, designs employing fuzzy-neural network approximations, all but the most mathematically sophisticated embodiments of sliding-mode control, "dynamic surface control", adaptive control under unknown sign of high-frequency gain (Nussbaum gain algorithms), the so-called "multi-dimensional" systems (discrete-time/discrete-space systems inspired by image processing), all applications not entailing significant theoretical advances, and all papers with analytical developments not resulting in rigorous "theorem-proof" formulations of the results.

Articles published in SCL rarely exceed 8-10 pages in Elsevier's two-column format. However, submission on topics of a technically demanding nature (for example, stochastic control, PDE control, etc.), where even concisely crafted proofs cannot fit into the said page limit, are also welcome, as long as their initial quality is high and permits editorial processing that typically takes no more than two rounds of review. (Initial quality refers to originality, relevance, correctness, clarity of exposition, and comprehensive awareness of literature in the paper's first draft.)

Following the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, signed by Elsevier and over 2,000 organizations and 16,000 researchers, authors of submissions to SCL should cite primary literature, in which observations are first reported, rather than limiting themselves to citing surveys and predominantly recent contributions. Additionally, geographically limited perspectives on the literature are not appropriate for submissions to a global journal like SCL. This policy aims for a proper attribution of credit, authors' adequate assessment of their own contributions, and those undertaking follow-up research effort not being misguided regarding the state of the art on a topic to which they will dedicate much time and their career hopes. The editors may reject an article containing such lapses, either after the deficiencies are not corrected to the editors' satisfaction upon being pointed out by editors or reviewers, or immediately upon submission if the deficiencies require a degree of editorial input that is more commonly associated with acting as a coauthor than as an editor or reviewer.