Arbitration proceedings are generally private — hearings are not open to the public, unlike court proceedings. Confidentiality of the substance of the dispute, however, depends on what the parties, the institutional rules, or the seat's arbitration law actually provide, rather than being automatic everywhere.
Most institutional rules impose confidentiality obligations on the arbitrators and the institution itself regarding the existence of the arbitration, the evidence and submissions, and the award. Parties' own confidentiality obligations are sometimes narrower unless the arbitration agreement itself includes an express confidentiality clause.
A well-drafted arbitration clause should state confidentiality obligations explicitly — covering the existence of the dispute, the evidence exchanged, and the award itself — rather than assuming institutional rules alone provide everything a party actually wants protected.