journal article acknowledgments

[delsur]

Hi everyone. I'm wondering: is there a standard practice for acknowledgments in journal articles in the humanities? I don't mean acknowledgement of funding or grants but of people who read drafts along the way and shared helpful comments and suggestions. I want to acknowledge a colleague who helped me early on and the editors who really went out of their way to help me sharpen arguments. I've read online that it is not customary to thank colleagues or editors but it's ok to acknowledge blind reviewers. What are your thoughts?

The first article I published in THE journal in my field, I got enormous help from one of the reviewers through multiple rounds of R&R. I was fresh out of grad school and honestly didn't know about acknowledgments in journals and this has weighed on me ever since. But I'm still confused about what the standard practice is. Thank you.

[Parasaurolophus]

You can do what you want. I regularly thank people who read drafts. Just put it in a footnote--either the first, the last, or at the appropriate juncture.

[Morden]

Most journals will have a specific place for acknowledgements (maybe footnote, maybe just before reference list, etc.). I am in humanities and have regularly thanked people who helped with earlier drafts.

[dinomom]

Thanks for this. I have been wondering as well. Specifically I have an R&R that I hope will come out soon that I've had perhaps a dozen colleagues read beyond the blind reviewers (it's ultimately for a book project) and it seems on the one hand that I ought to thank them--for I appreciate their work tremendously--and on the other hand like it would be a massive footnote.

[Parasaurolophus]

Nothing wrong with that! I don't often see large numbers of people in the acknowledgements, but I've seen it a few times.

My experience has been that people are really glad to have their help acknowledged, especially early-career folks. One of my papers was written as an answer to a grad student's question for me when I gave a guest lecture in a gad seminar last year. In the paper, I acknowledge and thank her for the question. My friend (her instructor) says that when she discovered I'd done so, it really buoyed her spirits and cemented an interest in the subject. I see no downside to that!

[Hibush]

This discussion of acknowledgement leads me to make a shameful movie plug.
Footnote.
It describes contrasting values underlying acknowledgement. Set in as humanistic a department one could find (Talmudic Research at HUJ), and the tension between old and new scholarly approaches. Plus a lot of juicy interpersonal drama, because it is a good movie.
The link is to the Wiki article, which as spoilers, but is good if you want the TLDW; version.

[Sun_Worshiper]

I don't see any harm in thanking people who made a meaningful contribution to the final paper. I'm sure they will appreciate it. I also usually thank the editor and anonymous reviewers (not by name), participants in panels or at workshops that I presented the paper at (usually without mentioning anyone specifically by name, unless they were especially helpful), and research assistants.

I'm in social sciences, not humanities.

[delsur]

Thank you, everyone, for these replies!

I don't see any harm in thanking people who made a meaningful contribution to the final paper. I'm sure they will appreciate it. I also usually thank the editor and anonymous reviewers (not by name), participants in panels or at workshops that I presented the paper at (usually without mentioning anyone specifically by name, unless they were especially helpful), and research assistants.

I'm in social sciences, not humanities.

Would you mind sharing if you thank the editor by name? 

[Sun_Worshiper]

Thank you, everyone, for these replies!

I don't see any harm in thanking people who made a meaningful contribution to the final paper. I'm sure they will appreciate it. I also usually thank the editor and anonymous reviewers (not by name), participants in panels or at workshops that I presented the paper at (usually without mentioning anyone specifically by name, unless they were especially helpful), and research assistants.

I'm in social sciences, not humanities.

Would you mind sharing if you thank the editor by name?

I've never thanked the editor by name. I usually say something like: "The author is grateful to the journal's editors and to three anonymous reviewers, as well as to Bob Jones, Sally Smith, and participants at the American Basketweaving Association panel where an earlier version of this paper was presented."