> The idea that it takes a week to a month to deeply understand a research paper feels to me like a massive failure in our expectations of academic writing. Is

> The idea that it takes a week to a month to deeply understand a research paper feels to me like a massive failure in our expectations of academic writing. Isn't it just because of all the knowledge required to actually understand the paper? typically, you wouldn't expect someone without a strong background in the field to understand novel research in an afternoon. This is usually what's a PhD is for: covering the gap between master and state of the art.