editorial we

editorial we (plural editorial wes or editorial we's)

2. Synonym of plural of modesty (“speaking of oneself as if multiple people, intending to seem modest”).
4. The first-person plural pronoun used by an editor or other spokesperson when speaking with the authority of their publication, profession, organization, or company.
6. The practice, common in mathematical and scientific literature, of referring to a generic third person by we (instead of the more common one or the informal you), or of implying that the writer and the reader, or all of humanity, are united as collaborators in thinking the sequence of thoughts that the narrative describes).

Scientific style manuals advise that whenever the pronoun we is used, its antecedent should be clear in context. If the authors write "we studied asplenia in an animal model" and "we still have much to learn about the physiologic effects of asplenia," the antecedent of the pronoun in each of those sentences (the authors of that article, and all of humanity, respectively) should be contextually clear to any sensible reader, without any confusing juxtapositions of differing antecedents.

• (in all senses, often synonymous): author's we, author's plural

• royal we (sometimes humorously synonymous)