Since 1961, when the research station was founded, KLRS has provided support for studies in glaciology, geomorphology, geology, biology, botany, zoology, hydrology, limnology, climatology, high-altitude physiology, social sciences, anthropology, and archaeology. Over 1500 publications have resulted from these research activities, many of which are described in the KLRS bibliographic database.

In celebration of the 50th anniversary of KLRS in 2011, a special issue of Arctic was produced in 2014. In addition to papers on current research, the issue also contains a history of the scientific research prior to 2011 (Danby et al., 2014, Arctic, vol. 67).