To publish original and valuable papers in the field of classification, numerical taxonomy, multidimensional scaling and other ordination techniques, clustering, tree structures and other network models (with somewhat less emphasis on principal components analysis, factor analysis, and discriminant analysis), as well as associated models and algorithms for fitting them. Articles will support advances in methodology while demonstrating compelling substantive applications. Comprehensive review articles are also acceptable. Contributions will represent disciplines such as statistics, psychology, biology, information retrieval, anthropology, archeology, astronomy, business, chemistry, computer science, economics, engineering, geography, geology, linguistics, marketing, mathematics, medicine, political science, psychiatry, sociology, and soil science.

Published two times a year, Journal of Classification typically has four sections in each issue: articles, short notes and comments, software abstracts, and book reviews.