{"doi":"10.1177/0963662520937436","title":"Quantifying scientific jargon","abstract":"<jats:p> When scientists disseminate their work to the general public, excessive use of jargon should be avoided because if too much technical language is used, the message is not effectively conveyed. However, determining which words are jargon and how much jargon is too much is a difficult task, partly because it can be challenging to know which terms the general public knows, and partly that it can be challenging to ensure scientific accuracy while avoiding esoteric terminology. To help address this issue, we have written an R script that an author can use to quantify the amount of scientific jargon in any written piece and make appropriate edits based on the target audience. </jats:p>","journal":"Public Understanding of Science","year":2020,"id":663658,"datarank":0.41588830833596724,"base_score":2.772588722239781,"endowment":2.772588722239781,"self_citation_contribution":0.41588830833596724,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.41588830833596724,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":15,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":33059,"name":"Keith Johnson","orcid":"0000-0002-8578-5921","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1732777,"name":"Leila Sterman","orcid":"0000-0002-0882-6451","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1732776,"name":"Shannon D. Willoughby","orcid":"0000-0002-5690-9489","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Quantifying scientific jargon","abstract":"<jats:p> When scientists disseminate their work to the general public, excessive use of jargon should be avoided because if too much technical language is used, the message is not effectively conveyed. However, determining which words are jargon and how much jargon is too much is a difficult task, partly because it can be challenging to know which terms the general public knows, and partly that it can be challenging to ensure scientific accuracy while avoiding esoteric terminology. To help address this issue, we have written an R script that an author can use to quantify the amount of scientific jargon in any written piece and make appropriate edits based on the target audience. </jats:p>","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":2.772588722239781,"endowment":2.772588722239781,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"32627721","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W3040422808","authors":[],"funders":[{"funder_name":"National Science Foundation","grant_id":"1735124","title":"NRT-IGE: Fostering Effective Oral Communication Skills for STEM Graduate Students"}],"total_grants":1,"fwci":0.8031,"citation_percentile":0.79093451,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2022,"count":2},{"year":2023,"count":4},{"year":2024,"count":3},{"year":2025,"count":3},{"year":2026,"count":3}],"oa_status":"green","license":"cc-by-nc-nd","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://scholarworks.montana.edu/bitstreams/a74fb159-8c8f-4bb6-a870-61fec1e38a7e/download","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://scholarworks.montana.edu/bitstreams/a74fb159-8c8f-4bb6-a870-61fec1e38a7e/download","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0963662520937436","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full-xml/10.1177/0963662520937436","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://scholarworks.montana.edu/xmlui/handle/1/15985","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1177/0963662520937436","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32627721","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://zenodo.org/record/3971113","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0963662520937436","host_type":""},{"url":"https://zenodo.org/records/3971113","host_type":""},{"url":"http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0963662520937436","host_type":""}],"fields_of_study":["Advanced Text Analysis Techniques","Computational and Text Analysis Methods","Misinformation and Its Impacts","03 medical and health sciences","0508 media and communications","0302 clinical medicine","05 social sciences","Humans","Language","Physicians","Writing"],"mesh_terms":["Humans","Language","Physicians","Writing"],"keywords":["Jargon","Terminology","Task (project management)","Computer science","Scientific terminology","Scientific writing","Scientific communication","Work (physics)","Linguistics","Library science","Engineering","Philosophy","Science Writing","Science Communication","Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)","Communication","Physicians","Writing","Developmental and Educational Psychology","Humans","Language"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Quality Education"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-08-12T22:55:30.673468Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}