sciencefictionlevel

Sciencefictionlevel is a term used to describe a proposed metric for the degree to which a work of fiction foregrounds science and science-inspired elements. It is not an official standard but a descriptive concept used in critical discourse, cataloging, and recommendation systems to classify science fiction content along a continuum rather than as a binary genre label.

The concept typically rests on several dimensions, including the presence and centrality of scientific or engineering ideas, the degree of scientific plausibility or speculation, the scope of worldbuilding, and the emphasis on inquiry, problem solving, or empirical methods within the narrative. Other factors may include setting in speculative futures, space travel, advanced technologies, or encounters with non-human life that engage scientific themes.

Methodologically, sciencefictionlevel can be assigned by human reviewers who rate works on a defined scale (for example 0 to 100) or by categorizing into low, medium, or high levels. Automated approaches using text analysis may supplement ratings by detecting keywords, concepts, or references to real sciences such as physics or biology. It can be used to augment tagging in catalogs, guide recommendations, or support scholarly comparisons across media.

Critiques of the concept note that sciencefictionlevel is inherently subjective and dependent on criteria chosen by evaluators. It risks conflating scientific realism with quality, and may underrepresent works that use science fiction to explore social, political, or philosophical themes where scientific content is less central.