Pushing back on reader's report

[delsur]

Coming late to this:


Step 5: I always acknowledge reviewers, even if their comments p!ss me off. Once I spent a long, long, long time (far longer than one normally would) writing helpful, constructive comments on a very messy first article by a young scholar in my field who had apparently been "mentored by wolves." The article went through several rounds of R&R. I was furious when the final article, which incorporated a lot of my comments, did not acknowledge the reviewers.

In my field in the humanities, acknowledgement of reviewers is quite common in books but not so common in journal articles. How is this typically done? In an endnote or footnote, perhaps? My first peer-reviewed article required the kind of work from reviewers that you describe. I really did want to thank or acknowledge their contribution but I guess I thought that wasn't done.

In my field (also humanities) acknowledgments of all kinds, including thanking anonymous reviewers, colleagues who have read and offered comments, funding sources, libraries, etc, typically appear in an initial note at the foot of the first page of the article. Usually there is no number, or it is somehow indicated by layout that it's not a regular footnote.
I was fortunate that the editor of the journal in which I published my first peer-reviewed piece socialized me by gently reminding me that the reviewers deserved my thanks in a short note.

Do other fields do this?

Well, I almost wish you were the reviewer who helped me through three rounds of RRs at a top journal so I can say THANK YOU! I also wish the editor would have nudged me too. But for those reviewers who are disappointed by the lack of recognition: people who do receive such helpful feedback are truly thankful whether they know to acknowledge or not.