While there is usually some notation that is implicit, and where the meaning depends on the particular field, most papers should explicitly define their notatio

While there is usually some notation that is implicit, and where the meaning depends on the particular field, most papers should explicitly define their notation. Are you sure it's a problem of notation, and not just that you're not used to reading slowly? Reading academic papers is very different from reading prose, and I find that even though you might struggle understanding it at first read, going through it line by line very slowly does help a lot. Do you have an example paper you're struggling with?