🧾 Formalism (Academic Definition) [Neurosurgery Wiki]

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===== 🧾 Formalism (Academic Definition) =====

**Formalism** refers to the excessive focus on academic structure, presentation, and stylistic conventions — often at the expense of substance, originality, or clarity.

==== 🏛️ Key Features ====
  * **Strict adherence to format** (e.g., IMRaD structure, citation style, abstract templating) regardless of whether it adds value.
  * **Overuse of jargon** to sound authoritative rather than to explain.
  * **Obsessive referencing** to appear well-read while avoiding saying anything new.
  * **Superficial methodological sections** inserted to meet reviewer expectations without real critical analysis.
  * **Aesthetic polish** used to compensate for conceptual emptiness.

==== 🎭 In Practice ====
> A paper filled with technically correct language, beautiful figures, and perfectly structured sections — yet lacking a clear question, hypothesis, or contribution.

==== ⚠️ Why It Matters ====
Formalism:
  * Rewards **style over insight**.
  * Shields **unoriginal or mediocre work** from scrutiny.
  * Encourages **careerism**, where researchers aim to publish “correctly” instead of meaningfully.
  * Creates **barriers to interdisciplinary or outsider contributions**.

==== 📎 Related Terms ====
  * [[mediocrity|Mediocrity]]
  * [[academic_theater|Academic Theater]]
  * [[unoriginal|Unoriginal]]
  * [[careerism|Careerism]]
  * [[factory_made_science|Factory-Made Science]]

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**Bottom line**: *Formalism is the art of looking academic without necessarily being meaningful — a well-dressed void in the guise of scholarship.*