Fringe science

Fringe science comprises scientific ideas or investigations outside mainstream acceptance, often because evidence is limited, methods are disputed, or claims conflict with established findings.

Pseudoscience: A system of claims presented as scientific but lacking reliable methods for testing or correcting them. Unlike fringe science, pseudoscience may reject scientific standards rather than remain an unsettled scientific proposal.
Peer review: Expert evaluation of scholarly work before publication or funding decisions. Review can expose methodological weaknesses, though publication alone does not establish a claim's truth.
Cold fusion: A disputed claim that nuclear fusion can occur in a laboratory cell at near-room temperatures. Its dramatic 1989 announcement, failed replications, and continuing minority research made it a prominent case.
Path dependence: A process in which earlier choices constrain later possibilities and outcomes. Established theories and institutions can make it harder for new evidence to redirect research.
Mainstream science: Scientific research and conclusions broadly accepted by relevant expert communities. Its evidence and methods provide the prevailing baseline against which fringe claims are assessed.
Replication crisis: The difficulty of reproducing many published findings, especially in some social and biomedical sciences. Replication failures illustrate why evidence quality can remain contested even inside mainstream research.
N-rays: A supposed form of radiation reported in France in 1903 and later found to be an observational illusion. The episode shows how expectation and weak experimental controls can sustain a false scientific claim.
Scientific pluralism: The view that multiple approaches or theoretical frameworks can contribute to scientific inquiry. Pluralism supports exploring alternatives without treating every fringe claim as equally credible.
Scientific dissent: Disagreement among scientists about evidence, interpretation, or accepted theories. Dissent can be legitimate within established research and does not by itself make a position fringe.
Falsifiability: The property of a claim that allows observations to count against it. Claims insulated from possible disconfirmation are difficult to distinguish from unsupported speculation.

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ProtoscienceCompared with: Fringe science may use scientific methods while remaining outside the mainstream, unlike a field still forming.