The efforts of the scholars at the Institute in studying the history, development and current state of Bulgarian are aimed at:

• Study of Bulgarian language, history, culture, and social system and the nation's contributions to the world civilisation;
• Organisation and accomplishment of fundamental and applied research in accordance with the national interests and the current world tendencies, assistance in the employment of the scholarly results achieved at IBL by other institutions;
• Creation and maintainance of wide range database, representative for the Bulgarian Language;
• Conduction of research and providing expert consultancy for government and regional institutions;
• Education of Ph.D students and specializants;
• Creation, preservation and dissemination of scholarly data and results, collections, and objects of national significance;
• Collaboration with research, educational and other organisations in the country and abroad, membership in international organisations and participation in their activities.