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Acknowledging reviewers properly?

In our October "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:

Is there a preferred way to decide when to acknowledge a specific reviewer comment with a dedicated footnote, instead of offering a general thank-you in an acknowledgments section? For example, suppose a reviewer recommends I cite a paper that I have not cited, or asks for additional argument in support of a premise. If I make requested changes like these, should I flag them and thank "an anonymous reviewer" in individual footnotes? Or is a single/general acknowledgments note enough?

These are good questions. I standardly acknowledge reviewers in comments, but sometimes also do so in a dedicated footnote here or there to thank them for asking me to address a particular issue or objection, if it seems to me a particularly important one. But I don't have any formula for this. 

What do other authors do/consider to be a best practice here?

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3 responses to “Acknowledging reviewers properly?”

  1. Craig

    I usually note the person in a footnote if either a) there was an extended discussion between us about the issue or b) the text has an idea I think someone else might want to cite down the road.

    Reply
  2. G

    I usually have a general ‘thanks to…’ at the end of papers. I only have more specific notes thanking reviewers if there was a big push from a reviewer to expand on a particular part of a paper. This is also my way of flagging to readers that any strange, seemingly forced material in the paper is the result of my assuaging reviewers.

    Reply
  3. Prof L

    I think local notes to thank people are a bit much. If someone was especially helpful, just say so in the general thanks. (e.g. ‘NN was especially helpful in directing me to relevant literature’ … even that’s a bit much). I hate extended footnotes including things like “I am grateful to NN for bringing this paper to my attention” … it’s obsequious and it is also bad style/detracts from the readability of the paper.

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