@kibaxcheza – It’s not an oxymoron at all. Don’t confuse fiction and magic. Here’s a rough classification that might help:
Hard science fiction – Uses existing science based on confirmed theories plus projected technology
Soft science fiction – Uses existing science including formal hypotheses and some speculation plus projected technology
Fantasy – Writers can create their own (magical) laws
Contact or Gattaca are examples of well-researched hard science fiction movies. Jurassic Park or Back to the Future are examples of soft science fiction movies (time travel, parallel universes, flying antigravity cars). Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings are examples of fantasy.
My own novel is hard science fiction. It’s set in 2061 and all features are scientific facts already in today (the core topic is embryo space colonization). This is what I mean with well-researched. Given the speed of the current technological progress we can make assumptions of what is likely to be available in 2020, 2040 or 2060. Very often technology progresses even fast. Look at Captain Kirk’s computers. No one in 1966 would have expected the phenomenal progress in computer science.