This inquiry assays reply articles published in academic journals in the field of applied linguistics as an instance of academic conflict concerning the realization of impoliteness. The inquiry further examines the judgment resources of Appraisal Theory leading to impoliteness in this genre. Taking the theoretical model of impoliteness (Bousfield 2008a), both on-record and off-record impolite behaviors were coded in a corpus of 58 reply articles published in academic journals. Then, drawing on Appraisal Theory and the subcategories of judgment resources (Martin and Rose 2003), which cover capacity, veracity, propriety, normality and tenacity, the coded impolite behaviors were examined. The results of the assay indicated a high frequency of on-record impoliteness to which comments on the commentators’ capacity contributed most. The findings of the current inquiry extend the currently available literature on (im)politeness and Appraisal Theory and moreover, make academic courses instructors, novice and professional members of the applied linguistics discourse community cognizant of the potential (im)polite implications of their contributions to the discourse community in order to have pragmatically appropriate choices (Ishiara 2006).