I think there's definitely an underserved space for academics on the fediverse.

Feed-based mechanics are not good for archival or slower (read: not always online) readers, so NodeBB actually works really well to collect that stuff and present it in less of a firehose-y format.

For example, here's a NodeBB forum that follows the #medicine tag: https://postcall.pub

I'd be happy to work with you to start a general science (or more topic-focused) board if you're interested...