The journal contains several articles written by prominent scientists such as Paul Dirac, Werner Heisenberg, Ernest Rutherford, Erwin Schrödinger, William Lawrence Bragg, Lord Kelvin, J.J. Thomson, James Clerk Maxwell, Dorothy Hodgkin and Stephen Hawking.

Initially it was called Abstracts of the Papers Communicated to the Royal Society of London.

Proceedings of the Royal Society A publishes peer-reviewed research articles in the mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences.

Proceedings of the Royal Society B publishes research related to biological sciences.

The journal publishes predominantly research articles and reviews, as well as comments, replies, and commentaries.