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Academia.edu

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Academia, Inc.
Screenshot
Company typePrivate
Website type
Platform for sharing research papers
Available inEnglish
Founded2008; 18 years ago (2008)
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California, U.S.
Area servedWorldwide
FounderRichard Price
Employees100[1]
Websiteacademia.edu
RegistrationRequired
Users300 million[2]

Academia.edu is a commercial platform for sharing academic research that is uploaded and distributed by researchers from around the world. All academic articles are free to read by visitors, however uploading and downloading articles is restricted to registered users, with additional features accessible only as a paid subscription.[3][4]

Since the launch of the site in 2008, the number of users has grown rapidly, reaching about 10 million daily visits in early 2022. By 2026, Academia.edu has over 300 million registered users, with over 55 million papers currently available on the platform.[5]

In 2022, the company entered the scientific publishing sector, launching a dozen scientific, open access journals, and publishing under the name of Academia.edu Journals.[6]

History

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Academia.edu was founded by Richard Price in 2008.[7]

On its filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company uses the legal name Academia Inc.[8] The site was registered in the .edu top-level domain in 1999 when that domain was not limited to educational institutions.

Academia.edu supports the open science or open access movements and, in particular, instant distribution of research.[9] Accordingly, the company publicly stated its opposition to the proposed (since withdrawn) 2011 U.S. Research Works Act, which would have prevented open-access mandates in the U.S.[10]

In 2013, Elsevier sent thousands of takedown notices to Academia.edu, claiming copyright infringement for Elsevier-published content that was posted on Academia.edu. Following widespread complaint of these takedown notices by researchers, Elsevier retracted their request, and academics were allowed to continue to post their publications.[11][12][13]

Competitors

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Academia.edu's competitors include ResearchGate, Google Scholar and Mendeley.[14] In 2016, Academia.edu reportedly had more registered users than ResearchGate (about 34 million versus 11 million[15]) and higher web traffic, but ResearchGate had substantially more active usage by researchers. In 2020, the traffic ranks had reversed, with ResearchGate ranked in the top 150–200 websites globally according to Alexa Internet, whereas Academia.edu was positioned in the 200–300 range.[citation needed] Unpaywall, which collects data about open access versions of academic publications and provides easy access to them, is also considered a competitor to Academia.edu.[16]

Publishing

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As of August 2026, Academia.edu Journals has launched 21 active open-access journals that publish articles in various scientific fields, including medicine. As a gold open-access publisher, all articles are freely available.[17]

All journals waived article processing charges for authors during the year in which the journal was launched, and continue to waive these fees for authors who come from eligible countries or can prove difficulty with paying due to lack of funding.[18]

Currently, the following journals are published:[19][20]

Title ISSN Launch
Academia AI and Applications 3071-0286 2025, September
Academia Biology 2837-4010 2023, March
Academia Biomedical Engineering Pending 2026, July
Academia Catalysis 3143-5408 2025, October
Academia Drug Development and Pharmacotherapy 3071-2521 2025, August
Academia Earth and Planetary Science 3143-6692 2026, February
Academia Engineering 2994-7065 2023, June
Academia Environmental Sciences and Sustainability 2997-6006 2023, November
Academia Global and Public Health 3071-0324 2025, December
Academia Green Energy 2998-3665 2023, August
Academia Immunity and Disease 3143-0481 2025, August
Academia Materials Science 2997-2027 2023, October
Academia Medical Imaging and Radiation Therapy Pending 2026, April
Academia Medicine and Health 3070-3530 2023, June
Academia Mental Health and Well-Being 2997-9196 2023, December
Academia Molecular Biology and Genomics 3064-9765 2024, May
Academia Nano: Science, Materials, Technology 3065-9736 2024, March
Academia Neuroscience and Brain Research 3071-4087 2025, September
Academia Nutrition and Dietetics 3067-1345 2024, November
Academia Oncology 2998-7741 2024, February
Academia Quantum 3064-979X 2024, May

Indexing of journals

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As of August 2026, Academia.edu Journals has multiple journals indexed in databases, including:[21]

Scopus

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Academia Biology (eISSN: 2837-4010) is indexed in Scopus, with a 2025 Citescore of 1.0.[22]

Web of Science

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Academia Biology (eISSN: 2837-4010) is indexed in three subspecialty databases of Web of Science — BIOSIS previews, Biological Abstracts, and Zoological Record.[23]

Embase

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Three journals, Academia Mental Health and Well-Being (eISSN: 2997-9196), Academia Oncology (eISSN: 2998-7741), and Academia Medicine and Health (eISSN: 3070-3530) are indexed in the biomedical database Embase.[24]

DOAJ

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12 journals are indexed in the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ).[25]

Criticism

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Criticism of Company Name

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Academia.edu is not a university or institution for higher learning and so under current standards it would not qualify for the ".edu" top-level domain. However, since the domain name "Academia.edu" was registered in 1999, before the regulations required .edu domain names to be held solely by accredited post-secondary institutions in the US, it is allowed to remain active and operational. All .edu domain names registered before 2001 were grandfathered in, even if not an accredited USA post-secondary institution.[26][27]

2015 and 2016 Complaints

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In 2015, a critic, Kathleen Fitzpatrick, the director of scholarly communication at the Modern Language Association, said she found the use of the ".edu" domain name by Academia.edu to be "extremely problematic", since it might mislead users into thinking the site is part of an accredited educational institution rather than a for-profit company.[27]

In early 2016, some users reported having received e-mails from Academia.edu where they were asked if they would be interested in paying a fee to have their papers recommended by the website's editors.[28] This led some users to start a campaign encouraging users to cancel their Academia.edu accounts.[29] In December 2016, Academia.edu announced new premium features that includes data analytics on work and the professional rank of the viewers,[30] which have also received criticism.[31][32]

Other criticisms in 2016 include the fact that Academia.edu uses a vendor lock-in model: "It's up to Academia.edu to decide what you can and can't do with the information you've given them, and they're not likely to make it easy for alternative methods to access".[29] This is in reference to the fact that, although papers can be read by non-users, a free account is needed in order to download papers: "you need to be logged in to do most of the useful things on the site (even as a casual reader)".[29] According to a now deleted post, the University of Oklahoma libraries states that when interacting with Academia.edu, users should keep in mind that "you are not the customer," but rather "you are the product that these services seek to monetize and/or 'offer up' to advertisers," that "you might be breaking the law," even if you are uploading your own work, and finally that "there are privacy implications," because a commercial site does not follow professional standards and "may share information about you".[33]

Reputation

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Academia.edu has repeatedly been the target of public criticism for using manipulative interface mechanisms classified as “dark patterns.” Users’ main complaints concern unfair subscription practices: one-time offers to purchase individual documents often mask a transition to high-cost annual plans without providing adequate and conspicuous information to the consumer. This strategy, where key financial terms are presented in visually muted text with low contrast, is viewed as a violation of transaction transparency principles and consumer protection standards. The widespread nature of negative reviews on independent platforms such as Trustpilot and Reddit has created a persistent negative reputation for the service, leading to numerous chargeback procedures and discussions regarding the company’s compliance with the California Automatic Renewal Law (ARL) and the EU Digital Services Directive.[34]

References

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  1. ↑ "Our Mission". Academia.edu. Archived from the original on December 10, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Academia.edu | About". www.academia.edu. Retrieved February 3, 2024.
  3. ↑ Duffy, Brooke Erin; Pooley, Jefferson D. (January 2017). ""Facebook for Academics": The Convergence of Self-Branding and Social Media Logic on Academia.edu". Social Media + Society. 3 (1): 205630511769652. doi:10.1177/2056305117696523.
  4. ↑ Talbot-Stokes, Ruth. "LibGuides: Researcher Identifiers, Profiles and Social Networks: Academia.edu". libguides.newcastle.edu.au. Retrieved July 22, 2024.
  5. ↑ Academia.edu. "About". Retrieved April 21, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  6. ↑ Jack, Andrew (February 21, 2022). "Tencent-backed academic network to launch 'open access' journals". Financial Times. Archived from the original on February 23, 2022. Retrieved February 23, 2022.
  7. ↑ Price, Richard. "Richard Price". Entrepreneur. Archived from the original on February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 3, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Academia Inc". EDGAR. SEC. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  9. ↑ Richard Price (February 5, 2012). "The Future of Peer Review". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on April 30, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  10. ↑ Richard Price (February 15, 2012). "The Dangerous "Research Works Act"". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on March 12, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  11. ↑ Parr, Chris (June 12, 2014). "Sharing is a way of life for millions on Academia.edu". Times Higher Education. Archived from the original on February 8, 2023. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  12. ↑ Howard, Jennifer (December 6, 2013). "Posting Your Latest Article? You Might Have to Take It Down". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015. Retrieved September 14, 2015.
  13. ↑ Clarke, Michael (December 11, 2013). "The End of an Era for Academia.edu and Other Academic Networks?". The Scholarly Kitchen. Retrieved August 12, 2024.
  14. ↑ Matthews, David (April 7, 2016). "Do academic social networks share academics' interests?". Times Higher Education. Archived from the original on April 17, 2016. Retrieved April 22, 2016.
  15. ↑ Satariano, Adam (November 15, 2016). "Bill Gates-Backed Research Network Targets Advertising Revenue". Bloomberg. Archived from the original on November 30, 2016. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
  16. ↑ Dhakal, Kerry (April 15, 2019). "Unpaywall". Journal of the Medical Library Association. 107 (2): 286–288. doi:10.5195/jmla.2019.650. PMC 6466485.
  17. ↑ "Open access policy - Academia Biology - Academia.edu". www.academia.edu. Retrieved July 12, 2024.
  18. ↑ "Article processing charges - Academia Biology - Academia.edu". www.academia.edu. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  19. ↑ "Academia.edu Journals | All Journals - Academia.edu". www.academia.edu. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  20. ↑ "The ISSN Portal". portal.issn.org. Retrieved September 20, 2024.
  21. ↑ "About us - Academia.edu Journals - Academia.edu". www.academia.edu. Retrieved August 31, 2026.
  22. ↑ "Scopus".
  23. ↑ "Web of Science Master Journal List - WoS MJL by Clarivate". mjl.clarivate.com. Retrieved August 31, 2026.
  24. ↑ "Where can I find a complete list of the journals in Embase? | Embase Support Center". www.elsevier.support. Retrieved August 31, 2026.
  25. ↑ "DOAJ".
  26. ↑ "edu Policy Information". Net.educause.edu. October 29, 2001. Archived from the original on April 21, 2013. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  27. 1 2 McKenna, Laura (December 17, 2015). "The Convoluted Profits of Academic Publishing". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on December 19, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
  28. ↑ "Scholars Criticize Academia.edu Proposal to Charge Authors for Recommendations". The Chronicle of Higher Education. January 29, 2016. Archived from the original on August 5, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  29. 1 2 3 "Should you #DeleteAcademiaEdu? On the role of commercial services in scholarly communication". Impact of Social Sciences. February 1, 2016. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  30. ↑ Team, The Academia edu (December 20, 2016). "How do people find your papers? Academia.edu Introduces a New Premium Feature". Medium. Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  31. ↑ "Academia, Not Edu". Planned Obsolescence. October 26, 2015. Archived from the original on January 28, 2017. Retrieved January 26, 2017.
  32. ↑ "The end of Academia.edu: how business takes over, again". diggit magazine. April 26, 2017. Archived from the original on May 1, 2017. Retrieved May 2, 2017.
  33. ↑ Understanding Academia.Edu and Researchgate Archived April 19, 2022, at the Wayback Machine University of Oklahoma University Libraries
  34. ↑ "Reddit - Please wait for verification". www.reddit.com. Retrieved April 22, 2026.
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