This review journal provides a comprehensive, critical, and up-to-date overview of German-language sociology literature. Articles published in the journal take the following formats:

Sammelbesprechungen (Collected Reviews) address a larger number of thematically connected or related new publications. They are reviewed in a structured way; this includes discussion of the connections between the various publications.

The same approach describes the format of the Doppelbesprechungen (Double Reviews), which present a set of two new publications.

The Einzelbesprechungen (Single Reviews) are devoted to a single new publication.

Each Symposium acknowledges new publications by two or three authors who have made an extraordinary contribution in their particular research area.
In addition, publications by a single author that are deemed of special interest are discussed in the form of Essays.

Themenessays (Topical Essays) offer commentaries about research areas that are especially topical and notable for a high density of interesting new publications.

Gebietskartierungen (Area Maps) serve for the presentation, compilation, and assessment of questions, perspectives, concepts, and lines of debate in a current research area where German-language sociology has made or should make an important and independent contribution.