[jcgrillo]

Information density is one part, precision is another. Papers are often presenting work at the frontier of the field, which is by nature not well understood yet, and competitive. To have something worthy of publication is to have something that is new, and that often requires a degree of precision to communicate that we don't use casually. I think it's pretty gross to denigrate "academic writing" as obfuscatory, just like it's gross to make broad sweeping generalizations about journalists.