Proceedings

Proceedings is a term with more than one major meaning. In academia, it refers to a record of papers presented at a conference or symposium, often published as a standalone volume or online collection. In law and government, proceedings denote the steps taken by a court, tribunal, or public authority as a case is processed from start to finish.

Academic proceedings typically include full papers, extended abstracts, keynote addresses, and discussions from the event. They may be edited by a program committee or editors and published by scholarly societies, universities, or publishers. Some proceedings are peer reviewed, though the level of scrutiny can vary; others are offered without formal review. Access ranges from subscription-based to open access.

Legal proceedings encompass the procedural sequence of actions in a case, including filings, pleadings, pretrial motions, hearings, trials, judgments, and post-trial motions or appeals. They generate official records such as transcripts, minutes, orders, and judgments. Proceedings can be civil, criminal, administrative, or regulatory, and they may occur in trial courts, appellate courts, or administrative tribunals, sometimes under time constraints and specific procedural rules.

The term can also function as a collective noun for the events themselves or the acts of proceeding in a procedural sense. Care should be taken to distinguish between the publication context (academic proceedings) and the procedural context (legal or administrative proceedings).