Scholars (9)
I believe the answer is:
academics
<span class="explanation-format__ClueExplanation">'<span class="explanation-format__original">scholars</span>' is the definition.<br/ ><span class="explanation-format__explanation">(I've seen this before)</span><br/ ><br/ >This is all the clue.<br/ ></span>
(Other definitions for academics that I've seen before include "Educators at college or university" , "scholars" .)