Scholars: why deleting your academia.edu account is essential to avoid reputational damage
- Albert Haig
- Jun 12
- 3 min read
There have been a number of researchers who have written posts arguing that scholars should delete their accounts from academia.edu. These posts have correctly pointed out that academia.edu is not a genuine ".edu", but is a for-profit social media company. See for example:
All these concerns are valid and I wish that I had listened to them. The purpose of this post, however, is to alert scholars to yet another danger of hosting your work on academia.edu, and that is reputational damage. Let me explain.
I joined academia.edu in 2016, and at that time it was used primarily by genuine scholars who published in credible peer-reviewed journals. However, over time, the site has become populated by large numbers of "academic papers" that are unpublished or self-published by what can only be described as kooky cranks. It has been my unfortunate experience to encounter white supremacists, holocaust deniers, religious fundamentalists, conspiracy theorists of all varieties, and other people with an axe to grind from some bizarro world on the site. These users will often post papers which are long screeds presenting their ideas. There is no, I repeat no, moderation of papers whatsoever, as far as I can tell. If you thought X under Elon Musk was open slather, then let me introduce you to papers on academia.edu.
Now I suppose that in itself is not a massive problem, if you don't mind your hard work of genuine research being listed in searches alongside other "academic papers" that are - how shall I put this politely - somewhat less than an appropriate scholarly standard. There is, however, a dark side to this lack of moderation. All it takes is one crackpot to take objection to your work, or a comment on a discussion forum, and they are perfectly free to post an "academic paper" which contains personal attacks, slander, and misrepresentation. They can even put your name in the title. This "paper" will then show up on Google searches for your name. It doesn't matter how ludicrous the accusations and "arguments" in the unpublished paper are. When people throw mud, some of it sticks. Do you want your next employer to see an "academic paper" pop up on Google search for your name that is full of malicious attacks?
If and when this happens, I can guarantee to you that academia.edu will not respond to your messages of protest and will not take the slanderous paper down. At least, not unless you are paying them for a premium subscription. You will be ignored. Indeed, it may well be that the crank in question is paying for a premium subscription, so what do you think your chances are of any positive response then?
So scholars, be warned. There is no moderation of papers on academia.edu. All it takes is some looney to take objection to your work or something you say, and they will be able to inflict reputational damage on you without any possibility of recourse on your part. In the "Wild West" no rules, no moderation virtual space that is academia.edu, the crackpots have nothing to lose. However, if you are a genuine scholar, you do have something to lose.
I would strongly advise all genuine academic scholars to delete their accounts from academia.edu. I wish I had heeded the warnings of others and done so previously. It is clear that academia.edu does not regard the considerable value they derive from hosting genuine peer-reviewed academic papers to be of any importance, since they will not act to prevent the platform from being used as a base for vindictive attacks upon scholars. There are much better alternatives to academia.edu that do respond to abuse in a timely manner. In particular, I recommend Knowledge Commons (formerly, Humanities Commons), which is genuinely open access and not for profit. They will not try to milk you for an expensive "premium" membership, and they do not allow abuse.
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