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I remember there being a single word to represent currently accepted facts in a scientific discipline. Common knowledge, but in a scientific setting. It is a jargon-y sounding word.

You'd use it when mentioning an accepted theory or concept that may be unfamiliar to a reader, but is common enough that you don't need to prove or cite it yourself.

The case I'm trying to use it in is like this:

...important to note that this study is not on the existence of the bias as it is _______, but rather the failure of subjects to account for it...

I'd like to emphasize that I'm looking for a single word. I may be misremembering it, but I am pretty certain there is one word that fits this description.

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  • This question is similar-ish, but is not a duplicate: english.stackexchange.com/questions/241904/…
    – kirkpatt
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 16:38
  • Is this query consistent with Thomas Kuhn's concept of a scientific paradigm?
    – user57832
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 16:39
  • ... as its existence is established ?
    – user184130
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 17:01
  • ...established (citation needed!) fact .... Reviewer #2 will say...
    – loonquawl
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 17:09

2 Answers 2

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Scientific consensus (from Wikipedia):

the collective judgment, position, and opinion of the community of scientists in a particular field of study.

It also relates to Kuhn's paradigm shift which says that a single finding does not change the scientific consensus.

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  • How would you word the sentence in the question using "scientific consensus?"
    – kirkpatt
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 18:11
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    @kirkpatt You could say: There is scientific consensus that the bias exists [add some references]. This study is not looking to prove the existence of the bias, but for situations when this bias does not hold up. More specifically, ...[add your hypotheses]
    – Boondoggle
    Commented May 23, 2018 at 19:02
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I can’t think of a specifically scientific term, and although the suggestion of @Boondggle is not wrong, the use of the term “consensus” tends to irk me personally. A wording that I would prefer, although one can argue it really isn’t any better, is:

“it is generally accepted”

or more positively, and without the implication that scientific truth is determined by vote:

“it is well established”

generally citing a reference to a review of the topic, if possible.

So in the example given in the question I would write:

...important to note that this study is not on the existence of the bias — which is well establishedref — but rather the failure of subjects to account for it...

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