I feel like such a subhuman when seeing academic papers about specialised stuff. I was browsing academic profiles at random and this is just a random one.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1a9vrOm0k7ttH1JGUXqLlaOY9PNjWQ3cD/view

How do I, as a non-academic, produce anything that is comparable in depth or impressiveness or rigour? Even if it's not an academic endeavour?