r/academia is a subreddit with 108k members. The most common kinds of discussions are advice requests and pain & anger, and the community frequently discusses academia, struggling, research, job, and phd, 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
Advice Requests
: "I want to teach at a university, but I absolutely do not want to do research. Is this a realistic career path?"
18 posts
#2
Pain & Anger
: "I was a PhD-level scientist at a biotech company. I now mow lawns for a living. I don't want to go back."
11 posts
#3
Solution Requests
: "help!!! mendeley cite is making me lose my mind lately"
1 post
#4
Money Talk
: "Is a PhD really a negative ROI, and other personal reflections"
1 post
#5
Opportunities
: "How can academia (specifically, publishing in this case) "fix" the overflow of AI-generated slop being submitted to conferences and journals? Serious discussion."
1 post
#6
Self-Promotion
: "My first article just got accepted in a journal!!!!!"
1 post
Popular Topics in r/academia
#1
Academia
: "Leaving higher ed for high school"
18 posts
#2
Struggling
14 posts
#3
Research
11 posts
#4
Job
9 posts
#5
Phd
: "The prof who chose me as their RA doesn't want to take me on as their Phd student anymore"
9 posts
#6
Hate
8 posts
#7
Ai
: "Inflationary Ai Use vs. concise writing - how do you deal with it?"
6 posts
#8
University
: "Leaving higher ed for high school"
5 posts
#9
Conference
4 posts
#10
Writing
: "I can't write my thesis no matter what."
4 posts
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
Venting & griping
: "University campuses are becoming giant liminal corridors."
20 posts
#2
Publishing
: "AI detectors in academia are almost as bad as AI use."
18 posts
#3
Job market
: "Does anyone else feel like universities have lost sight of what they’re supposed to be?"
14 posts
#4
Research issues
: "I think there should be a null/negative result segment in every journal"
13 posts
#5
Institutional structure/budgets/etc.
: "Decline of Ph.D. Admissions Could Imperil a ‘Generation of New Talent’ - NYT"
10 posts
#6
Academic politics
: "Would it be ethical to try and reconstruct a prof's database who has deceased 20 years ago?"
6 posts
#7
Students & teaching
: "'Humanity has chosen to become idiots': This Brown professor switched to take-home exams after a mass shooting and discovered mass cheating"
5 posts
#8
Mentoring
: "Dealing with a grad student incapable of finishing their degree? UPDATE"
4 posts
Member Growth in r/academia
Yearly
+17k members(18.1%)
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About
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This page gives a focused view of r/academia, including current member size, discussion patterns, product reviews, and related communities to explore.
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Last updated: August 6, 2026