The phrase "is hardly recognized" is correct and commonly used in written English.
It can be used to describe something that is not widely acknowledged or perceived, or something that is difficult to identify or understand. Example: Despite being a pioneer in her field, her contributions to the industry are hardly recognized or appreciated.
In contrast, the 2007 contract that reversed it is hardly recognized as a significant event in labor history.
In contrast to synthetic insulin analogues, the administration of recombinant human insulin is hardly recognized by mass spectrometry.
The objects in Figure 9b have high contrast; however, the texture of the white object is hardly recognized.
It is hardly recognized, however, that the link between function and kind-membership is not that straightforward.
The value of networking with other sectors, both within and outside agriculture, is hardly recognized by a large part of the growers: "We already know most of our crop.
The American side of me is hardly recognized, let alone defended.
Traditional visual landmarks — flagpole, river bend, stone church — are hardly recognized.
You wrote that in 1970, when you started doing research in this field, the origin of modern humans was hardly recognized as a topic worthy of study in science.
While comforting to the germ-phobic public, the too-shiny produce and triple-washed and bagged leafy greens in our local grocery aisle are hardly recognized by our immune system as food.
The classification of dementias has also grown rapidly over the last 20 years; Lewy Body Dementia (progressive dementia with hallucinations) was hardly recognized as a diagnosis in the 1980's yet is now thought to be fairly common.
At that time, the majority of Chinese scholars actually accepted the theories of historical materialism and evolution, but the Marxist theories of class and political economics were hardly recognized, which of course was directly related to the anti-Communist, pro-Western policies of the Kuomintang Government and the isolation of Marxism by the whole society, including academia.
