A Tale of Two Communities: Exploring Academic References on Stack Overflow

Stack Overflow is widely recognized by software practitioners as the go-to resource for addressing technical issues and sharing practical solutions. While not typically seen as a scholarly forum, users on Stack Overflow commonly refer to academic sources in their discussions. Yet, little is known about these referenced academic works and how they intersect the needs and interests of the Stack Overflow community. To bridge this gap, we conducted an exploratory large-scale study on the landscape of academic references in Stack Overflow. Our findings reveal that Stack Overflow communities with different domains of interest engage with academic literature at varying frequencies and speeds. The contradicting patterns suggest that some disciplines may have diverged in their interests and development trajectories from the corresponding practitioner community. Finally, we discuss the potential of Stack Overflow in gauging the real-world relevance of academic research.