About r/AskAcademia
In its own words:
This subreddit is for discussing academic life, and for asking questions directed towards people involved in academia, (both science and humanities).
The community was created on Jan 25, 2011, which makes it 15 years old. Since Oct 26, 2026, it has gained 679 subscribers (+0.03%).
What sets r/AskAcademia apart
r/AskAcademia is far more text-driven than most big subreddits: 100% of its recent posts are text posts, against a median of 34% across the Top 100. Its rhythm is strongly tied to time zones: the busiest hour (17:00 UTC) sees about 3.8× as many posts as the quietest (03:00 UTC).
Subscriber growth
Between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 2026, r/AskAcademia grew from 2,127,594 to 2,132,478 subscribers (+4.9K, +0.23%). That is about 111 new members per day. The chart uses our weekly snapshots (9 so far), so it gets longer every week.
What r/AskAcademia talks about
We read the titles of 40 recent posts (Oct 31–Nov 4), the words that come up most are “research”, “phd”, “academic”, “review” and “paper”. Other frequent themes are interview, question, letter, opportunity, help and university. By format, 100% are text posts.
Activity and best time to post
r/AskAcademia gets about 28 new posts a day. The public archive holds 113,126 posts and 1,129,338 comments in total, about 10.0 comments per post. Last week the busiest day was Friday (36 posts) and the quietest was Sunday (19). Posting peaks around 17:00 UTC and is lowest around 03:00 UTC.
Rules of r/AskAcademia
The moderators of r/AskAcademia list 12 rules. In short:
- Please stay on the topic of academia
- Don't be rude and/or abusive
- Ask questions about academia, not questions you think an academic could answer
- Complaining about how hard grad school is should be in /r/gradschool
- Homework help requests belong in /r/homeworkhelp
- Don't attempt to provoke a political argument
- Include sufficient information
- Please don't ask us about seducing your student/prof
- Please answer from your personal knowledge and experience
- Undergrads, please ask your question in the Office Hours pinned post
How to join
Open reddit.com/r/AskAcademia and press “Join”. Read the community rules in the sidebar before you post: every subreddit is run by its own volunteer moderators.
Frequently asked questions
How many subscribers does r/AskAcademia have?
r/AskAcademia has 2,132,478 subscribers, which makes it the #523 safe-for-work subreddit in the SubMouse ranking. It added 4,884 members between Sep 19, 2026 and Nov 2, 2026.
How old is r/AskAcademia?
r/AskAcademia was created on Jan 25, 2011, so it has been around for 15 years.
How active is r/AskAcademia?
Very active: r/AskAcademia gets about 28 new posts a day (average of the last week). Over its lifetime the archive counts 113,126 posts and 1,129,338 comments.
When is r/AskAcademia most active?
Based on post counts from Oct 29, 2026 to Nov 4, 2026, the busiest day was Friday and the quietest Sunday, and most posts arrive around 17:00 UTC, with the fewest around 03:00 UTC. More posts also means more competition, so a quieter hour can help a post get noticed.
What is r/AskAcademia about?
The community describes itself as: “This subreddit is for discussing academic life, and for asking questions directed towards people involved in academia, (both science and humanities).” Recent post titles often mention research, phd, academic, review and paper. Most posts are text posts (100%).
Is r/AskAcademia safe for work?
Yes. Reddit does not mark r/AskAcademia as an 18+ (NSFW) community. SubMouse lists safe-for-work subreddits only.
How do I post on r/AskAcademia?
Join the community on Reddit first, then use “Create post”. r/AskAcademia accepts text posts only, with galleries enabled. It has 12 posted rules, starting with: “Please stay on the topic of academia”; “Don't be rude and/or abusive”; “Ask questions about academia, not questions you think an academic could answer”. Moderators remove posts that break the rules, so read them in the sidebar before posting.
Which communities are like r/AskAcademia?
Communities with similar topics include r/AskReddit (60M), r/psychology (4.9M), r/compsci (4M), r/askscience (26.4M) and r/DestinyTheGame (3.4M).
Stats from public data (data updated Nov 2, 2026; activity, rules and archive totals via the Arctic Shift archive, Nov 6, 2026). Point and comment counts are archive snapshots and can be lower than on Reddit today. SubMouse is an independent directory and is not affiliated with Reddit or the moderators of r/AskAcademia.