Appreciative Note to Reviewer Appropriate?

[lilyb]

A review of one of my articles came out recently. It provided a careful and astute reading, capturing what I sought to do very well.
I would like to send a brief appreciative email to the reviewer.  (For what it's worth, I am more established in my career, while the writer is a very junior faculty member.).
I am questioning whether this is inappropriate for some reason? Part of me thinks it might be, but I can't articulate why.
I would appreciate any thoughts you might have.

[secundem_artem]

I'd say go for it.  The reviewer is likely to be pleasantly surprised and you may even find a potential collaborator for future projects.

[lilyb]

Good point! Plus, reviewers often don't get much credit for this work, at least in promotion decisions at my institution.

[Cheerful]

Certainly appropriate.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you were the reviewer, wouldn't you appreciate hearing from the article author?

[Parasaurolophus]

Totally, go for it! It'll make their day, and there's really nothing to be worried about on the ethics front that I can see.

[Ruralguy]

I actually vote no.

Acknowledge in paper by name for constructive remarks.

[Parasaurolophus]

I actually vote no.

Acknowledge in paper by name for constructive remarks.

My understanding (and I may be wrong!) is that the OP's paper is already out. This is some sort of separate review article which includes a review of the OP's published article.

[hungry_ghost]

Hm. I initially assumed "book review" because of the phrase "came out," plus in my field one would never (officially) know the name of the reviewer, so my first thought was "of course write to the author!". But, I re-read and I was wrong:

A review of one of my articles came out recently. It provided a careful and astute reading, capturing what I sought to do very well.

OP, if this is a published review of your work, by all means contact the author. That would be kind and gracious.
If this is a review in the sense of a prepublication assessment to determine whether your article should be published, then I would write a nice note to the editor, and mention the author as described by Ruralguy.

I actually vote no.

Acknowledge in paper by name for constructive remarks.

[Ruralguy]

Sorry, I was misreading that.

I suppose a brief thank you is in order.

The one thing I'm worried about...if you are senior and male, reviewer is junior and female.

[lilyb]

Sorry, I was misreading that.

I suppose a brief thank you is in order.

The one thing I'm worried about...if you are senior and male, reviewer is junior and female.

That's not the case, so no worries there. And yes, the essay reviewed was already published.

[Ruralguy]

if kept short and no real possibility of misinterpretation, then go ahead.

[Cheerful]

The one thing I'm worried about...if you are senior and male, reviewer is junior and female.

I wouldn't worry about that.  Usually, a note of appreciation is just a note of appreciation.  Nothing more, nothing less.  Lilyb said it would be a "brief appreciation email."

[Hibush]

People hardly ever get thanks or congratulations message these days. I don't think they are appreciated any less.

As we get out of practice sending these, we also start to second guess our ability. It's worth the effort to stay in practice.

[Puget]

The one thing I'm worried about...if you are senior and male, reviewer is junior and female.

Ruralguy, I'm sure you mean well, but this comment is really problematic. You are essentially saying that a senior male academic should not have a normal, collegial interaction with another academic just because that person happens to be junior and female*. It's that sort of assessment that can deny junior women access to the sorts of informal networks that play a big role in advancing careers. Please reconsider this attitude.

*We'll leave aside for now the fact that it also assumes heterosexuality.

[hungry_ghost]

The one thing I'm worried about...if you are senior and male, reviewer is junior and female.

Ruralguy, I'm sure you mean well, but this comment is really problematic. You are essentially saying that a senior male academic should not have a normal, collegial interaction with another academic just because that person happens to be junior and female*. It's that sort of assessment that can deny junior women access to the sorts of informal networks that play a big role in advancing careers. Please reconsider this attitude.

*We'll leave aside for now the fact that it also assumes heterosexuality.

I read this to mean that 'if OP is senior and male, reviewer is junior and female' then OP would need to be careful and thoughtful, not OP should not write a note. And, in my field at least, this would be good advice, especially because of "the sorts of informal networks that play a big role in advancing careers", to which women are often denied access, and also because of other pervasive inequalities that leave women playing a supporting role.