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r/askscience vs r/science

Side-by-side using public descriptions, members, growth and rule titles from SubMouse. Missing fields show as n/a. Adult communities are excluded.

Swap sides New comparison Related to r/askscience Related to r/science

Research sharing vs Q&A with science answers

r/science is for sharing and discussing new scientific research across fields. r/askscience is framed as ask a science question, get a science answer.

Both are huge Top-cut communities (science ~34.6M rank #11; askscience ~26.4M rank #20). Activity samples show askscience much busier day-to-day (~196 posts/day vs ~38), fitting a Q&A format. science’s submission type in our sample is link-oriented.

Rules enforce different evidence bars: science requires peer-reviewed research under six months old, bans sensational titles and summary-of-summaries. askscience removes medical advice, homework, memes and top-level comments that do not answer the question.

Share a recent peer-reviewed paper on r/science—not a blog summary or personal theory.
Ask a clear science question on r/askscience; do not use it for medical advice or homework dumps.
Both have full SubMouse /r/ pages in the current Top 100.

Written comparison based on public descriptions and rule titles · updated 2026-11-06.

r/askscience

AskScience: Got Questions? Get Answers.

Ask a science question, get a science answer.

Members: 26.4M
7-day growth: +2.8K
Posts/day: 195.5
Directory rank: #20
Created: Sep 5, 2008
Submissions: Text posts

Sample mix: text posts 100%

Topics: Questions & Discussion, Science

Rule titles (short names we collected)

Medical advice
Offensive or abusive language
Homework question
Meme, joke, or just link
Top-level comment not answering the question
Nonreputable answer
Simple calculation or easily Googleable
No bots, no AI generated answers

Open r/askscience on SubMouse

About this community: r/askscience ranks #20 on SubMouse’s SFW Top list (about 26.4 million subscribers in the directory). Catalogue framing: Ask a science question, get a science answer. Moderation themes that shape the room include: Medical advice; Offensive or abusive language; Homework question; Meme, joke, or just link.

r/science

Reddit Science

This community is a place to share and discuss new scientific research. Read about the latest advances in astronomy, biology, medicine, physics, social science, and more. Find and submit new publications and popular sci…

Members: 34.6M
7-day growth: +4K
Posts/day: 37.7
Directory rank: #11
Created: Oct 18, 2006
Submissions: Link posts

Sample mix: links 99%, text posts 1%, images 0%

Topics: Science

Rule titles (short names we collected)

Must be peer-reviewed research
No summaries of summaries, rehosts, or reposts
No editorialized, sensationalized, or biased titles
Research must be less than 6 months old
No off-topic comments, memes, low-effort comments or jokes
No abusive or offensive comments
Non-professional personal anecdotes will be removed
Criticism of published work should assume basic competence of the researchers and reviewers
Comments dismissing established findings and fields of science must provide evidence
No medical advice

Open r/science on SubMouse

About this community: r/science (#11, about 34.6 million) shares new scientific research across fields. Submissions must be peer-reviewed research under six months old; no summary-of-summaries, sensational titles, medical advice, or joke/low-effort comments. Link-dominant samples (~37.7 ppd).

Supported differences

Aspect	r/askscience	r/science
Public focus (from each community’s public description)	Ask a science question, get a science answer.	This community is a place to share and discuss new scientific research. Read about the latest advances in astronomy, biology, medicine, physics, social science, and more. Find and submit new publications and popular sci…
Size r/science is larger in our directory.	26.4M members	34.6M members
Posting activity (our sample)	195.5/day	37.7/day
Common post types in our sample	text posts 100%	links 99%, text posts 1%, images 0%
Allowed submission type (meta)	Text posts	Link posts
Topic tags on SubMouse	Questions & Discussion, Science	Science
Selected rule titles (short names we collected)	Medical advice; Offensive or abusive language; Homework question; Meme, joke, or just link; Top-level comment not answering the question	Must be peer-reviewed research; No summaries of summaries, rehosts, or reposts; No editorialized, sensationalized, or biased titles; Research must be less than 6 months old; No off-topic comments, memes, low-effort comments or jokes

What they share

Shared SubMouse topics: Science
Our directory lists each of these communities on the other’s related list.

Rule titles that matter for choosers

r/science: must be peer-reviewed; no rehosts/summary-of-summaries; no editorialized titles; research < 6 months old; no memes/low-effort; no abusive comments; limits on non-professional anecdotes; evidence required when dismissing established fields; no medical advice.

r/askscience collected titles include removals for medical advice, offensive language, homework, memes/jokes/just-links, and top-level comments that do not answer.

Where this comparison comes from

Safe-for-work directory stats with collected short rule titles and activity samples for both. Short titles only.

Members and public descriptions come from SubMouse's safe-for-work directory (as of 2026-11-02 UTC); 7-day growth measured from 2026-10-26. Posts/day and post-type mixes appear when we have an activity sample. Rule lines are short titles, not the full sidebar. Directory rank is listing order — communities outside the current Top 100 open in the info tool instead of a full community page.

Comparisons we prepared

Hand-written explanations for pairs where the public descriptions and rules support a real distinction:

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r/malefashionadvice vs r/femalefashionadvice — Parallel fashion-advice communities split by audience focus—not identical twins.
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