When reading academic English you will probably meet phrases from Latin, French or German, which are usually printed in italics:
'There may be great value in applying natural science ideas to the social sciences (and vice versa) ...'
Here, vice versa is a Latin phrase meaning 'the other way round'. These phrases are used because they are convenient ways of expressing common but important ideas, and there is no simple English equivalent. There is no merit in using such phrases frequently, and it is always better to use an English phrase if one exists.
Other common examples from Latin are:
a priori from what came before
ad hoc for a specific purpose
de facto in reality, if not in law
et alia and others (usually et al.)
per se by itself
prima facie on the face of it
Many phrases are also used from French, but frequently they are so common that they are not written in italics e.g. coup d'etat or laissez faire. However, these are examples of phrases that would normally need italics:
vis-a-vis compared with
ancien regime the traditional order
From German:
zeitgeist world view
leitmotiv a repeated theme in music or literature
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