r/academia is a subreddit with 110k members. The most common kinds of discussions are pain & anger and advice requests, and the community frequently discusses academia, struggling, research, hate, and job, and they frequently recommend/review pen, statistics book, and tablet.
An online community for discussing issues related to academia, faculty life, research, and institutional structures. This is NOT the place to ask questions about your homework, your particular school or professors, or to get admission advice!
Survey posts must be approved by mods in advance, must include contact/IRB info, and must be specific to academia.
Popular Themes in r/academia
#1
Pain & Anger
: "(AuDHD individual doing a PhD) Supervisor keeps telling me I'm "not social enough" despite doing well academically. I honestly don't know what to do anymore."
2 posts
#2
Advice Requests
: "Is a unussual surname a lmiting factor in science publications?"
2 posts
#3
Solution Requests
: "Preprint Server options other than bioRxiv and arXiv? For review paper in life sciences"
1 post
Popular Topics in r/academia
#1
Academia
15 posts
#2
Struggling
14 posts
#3
Research
10 posts
#4
Hate
8 posts
#5
Job
7 posts
#6
Sites
4 posts
#7
Phd
3 posts
#8
Publication
2 posts
#9
Writing
2 posts
#10
Depression
1 post
Products Discussed in r/academia
Pen
9 reviews
#1
Caran d’Ache Ballpoint
5.0★ from 2 reviews
#2
Pilot G2
5.0★ from 1 review
#3
Pilot Heritage
5.0★ from 1 review
Statistics Book
4 reviews
#1
Calvin Dytham
4.0★ from 1 review
#2
Wackerly
4.0★ from 1 review
#3
Sheldon Ross
4.0★ from 1 review
Tablet
3 reviews
#1
reMarkable
4.5★ from 2 reviews
#2
Apple
5.0★ from 1 review
Flair Used in r/academia
#1
Job market
: "Does anyone else feel like universities have lost sight of what they’re supposed to be?"
14 posts
#2
Venting & griping
: "Being passed over in hiring by someone who just got their PhD"
14 posts
#3
Publishing
: "Prestige as the currency of academia is the biggest scam of all"
13 posts
#4
Research issues
: "A Mathematician Working On The Navier-Stokes Millennium Prize Problem Now Wonders If OpenAI Stole His Notes That He Stored In Codex [Updated]"
11 posts
#5
Academic politics
: "The most hilarious academic scandal of the year (so far)"
7 posts
#6
Institutional structure/budgets/etc.
: "Adjuncting Until the End of Time - Universities now have more adjuncts than tenured and tenure-track professors combined. The conditions are unsustainable—for professors and students alike."
4 posts
#7
Students & teaching
: "To Make Anthropology Relevant to the Public, It Has to Be Relevant to the Public"
1 post
#8
Mentoring
: "RA positions for undergrads"
1 post
Member Growth in r/academia
Yearly
+16k members(17.6%)
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About
GummySearch helps people research Reddit communities by organizing activity, growth, themes, and post-level signals into one place.
This page gives a focused view of r/academia, including current member size, discussion patterns, product reviews, and related communities to explore.
This data is synced periodically so insights stay current and useful for ongoing research.
Last updated: September 13, 2026