Academic writing is more complicated than necessary because the authors lack skin in the game

Things designed by people without skin in the game tend to grow in complication (before their final collapse).

There is absolutely no benefit for someone in such a position to propose something simple:

when you are rewarded for perception, not results, you need to show sophistication.

Anyone who has submitted a “scholarly” paper to a journal knows that you usually raise the odds of acceptance by making it more complicated than necessary.

Further, there are side effects for problems that grow nonlinearly with such branching-out complications.

Worse: Non-skin-in-the-game people don’t get simplicity.

from 'Skin in the Game' by by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077QY23RV