Glossary
Partial-word, boolean (AND, OR, NOT) and "exact phrase" searches are supported.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Precision | The degree to which repeated measurements or observations under the same conditions show the same results. Science General |
| Predatory Journal | A publication that charges authors fees but provides little or no genuine peer review or editorial oversight, allowing low-quality or false work to appear legitimate. Public Trust |
| Prediction | A specific statement about what should happen under certain conditions if a hypothesis is correct. Science General |
| Preprint | A research paper shared publicly before peer review. Useful for speed, but findings may change or be rejected after review. Science General |
| Preservative | A substance added to multi-dose vaccine vials to prevent contamination by bacteria or fungi. Thimerosal was once common but has been removed from routine childhood vaccines in the United States. Vaccines |
| Preservatives | Compounds like 2-phenoxyethanol or trace thimerosal that prevent harmful bacteria or fungus from growing in multi-dose vials. Vaccines |
| Pretraining | Pretraining is the large-scale learning phase that gives an AI model broad knowledge before fine-tuning. LLMs are pretrained to predict the next token using a massive dataset that includes the whole public internet and any private, licensed, and synthetic data the developers can find or create. Artificial Intelligence |
| Prime-boost | A vaccination strategy in which a first dose primes the immune system and a later booster strengthens and prolongs the response. Vaccines |
| Probabilistic | Probabilistic means relating to or based on the likelihood that a specific event or outcome will happen, rather than providing a fixed or absolute certainty. Artificial Intelligence |
| Probability | A measure, from 0 to 1, of how likely an event is to happen. Science General |