Pathway vs Process (biological, chemical, ...)

[sivaramarabandi]

Pathway & Process
Specifically in the context of biology and chemistry:

• are these synonyms or do they mean different things?
• if they are different, how are they related?

TL;DR Process - the focus is on the outcome or end state Pathway - the focus is on the different paths that can be taken for the outcome.

Reference

• GO:biological_process
• Pathway Ontology
• Difference between "pathway" and "process" in Biochemistry

[linikujp]

Hi Sivaram,

Not sure why you post this question here. I think pathway and process are very similar, maybe sometimes overlapping. However, the pathway maybe exclusively used in the bioology and chemistry domain, whereas the process is a more general concept for broader domain. So there maybe a need for distinguishing the pathway and process in the bio and chemistry domain, but if it outside of this domain, we use process instead. What do you think of my approach?

Thanks, Asiyah

[sivaramarabandi]

Asiyah wrote: "I think pathway and process are very similar, maybe sometimes overlapping"

That is why. We use both terms e.g. disease process and disease pathways.

If they are similar but overlapping, then how are they related? This thread has a good discussion: Difference between "pathway" and "process" in Biochemistry.