This article uses a programmatic approach to present a theoretical framework for a future research project on the readability of specialised texts for non-expert readers and it also examines the issue of readability from a linguistic perspective. It focuses on terminology and examines its impact on the constant tension typical to specialised texts, between transparency and coherence (for expert readers) and opacity or incoherence (for non-expert readers). The article identifies at least three factors that tend to contribute to this tension: 1) the terminological density of a specialised text and its consequences on the text’s level of coherence; 2) the terms’ semantic potential, for both the writing and reading processes; and finally, but to a lesser degree, 3) the terms’ morphology. The article also explores the question of a necessary and sufficient level of reading comprehension for language professional that is thought to be different from that required of the researcher-reader.