Abstract: 【Purpose/significance】The development of virtual academic community is inseparable from user participation. The re⁃
search and analysis of user participation behavior types in virtual academic community have certain enlightening value for promoting knowledge exchange among users of virtual academic community.【Method/process】Based on the grounded theory, data collection is carried out on the Xiaomuchong community, and users are divided into three levels: elementary, intermediate, and advanced. Data was collected from the popular column, which has more than 10 posts, and the open, spindle and selective coding of the virtual academic community were carried out by using the qualitative analysis software NVIVO12.0. According to this builds a model of virtual academ⁃ic community users engagement practices.【Result/conclusion】According to the coding results, the types of virtual academic commu⁃nity users' engagement practices include greeting, regulating, assisting, appreciating, empathizing, complaining, celebrating and min⁃gling. The participation behavior of different users has different characteristics, in the actual participation process, each user's role should be strengthened to provide a powerful boost for the future development of the virtual academic community.【Innovation/limita⁃tion】Although the data sources are relatively limited, this paper introduces the grounded theory into the research of virtual academic communities, improves the classification system of user participation behavior in this context, and supplements the existing research results.