Learn · Controlled vocabulary demonstration
Define the term. Preserve the boundary.
A shared vocabulary helps articles, topic pages, studies, and trials mean the same thing. Each definition below includes the limit readers should keep in view.
Ten foundation terms
Plain language with guardrails.
Aliases help readers find a term. They do not merge concepts that answer different questions.
evidence
Evidence and outcomes
Measurements and outcomes must not be treated as interchangeable.
- Biomarker
A measured characteristic used to describe a biological state, process, or response.
Keep separate: A changed biomarker is not automatically a changed health outcome.
Alias: biological marker- Endpoint
A pre-specified result a study or trial is designed to measure.
Keep separate: Primary, secondary, exploratory, and surrogate endpoints have different roles.
Alias: outcome measure- Healthspan
The portion of life spent in health or function, defined differently across studies.
Keep separate: A study must state which health or function measures stand in for the concept.
Alias: healthy lifespan- Lifespan
The length of life observed or estimated for an organism or population.
Keep separate: Lifespan, mortality risk, healthspan, and biomarker change are not interchangeable outcomes.
Alias: length of life
research design
Research design
Methods describe what a study can support, not whether execution was flawless.
- Preclinical
Research conducted before evidence from human clinical studies, often in laboratory systems or animals.
Keep separate: Biological promise before human testing is not evidence of human benefit.
Alias: nonclinical- Randomization
A method for assigning participants to study groups by chance.
Keep separate: Random assignment can limit some bias but does not guarantee flawless execution or reporting.
Alias: randomized allocation
publication state
Publication state
Availability, review, and replication are separate questions.
- Peer review
Evaluation of a manuscript by other specialists before or after publication, depending on the venue.
Keep separate: Peer review is a quality-control process, not proof that every conclusion is correct.
Alias: refereeing- Preprint
A public research manuscript that has not completed a journal’s peer-review process.
Keep separate: Availability is not the same as independent review or replication.
Alias: unreviewed manuscript
record status
Record status
Current use can change while dated history remains inspectable.
- Corrected
A record state indicating that a documented change has been made while prior history remains visible.
Keep separate: A correction can change part of a record without making every statement false or erasing the earlier version.
Alias: updated record- Withdrawn
A record state indicating that an item is no longer presented as current while its history is preserved.
Keep separate: Withdrawal describes current use and history; the reason and scope must be recorded separately.
Alias: removed from active use
How the data layer uses this
One concept, stable ID, visible aliases.
The demonstration contract stores a stable identifier, preferred term, aliases, definition, boundary, provenance class, and review state independently. Unknown is never rewritten as false.