acknowledgement in a research paper

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How to Write Acknowledgement for Research Paper (5 Samples)

July 12, 2023

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By Mohsin Khurshid

Writing acknowledgements is an essential part of crafting a comprehensive research paper. It allows you to express gratitude and recognize the contributions of individuals and institutions who have supported your work. In this article, we will delve into the art of writing acknowledgement for research papers, providing you with valuable insights, practical tips, and five sample acknowledgements to guide you in acknowledging the people and resources that have played a significant role in your research journey.

Table of Contents

• 1 Understanding the Role of Acknowledgements in Research Papers
• 2 Key Elements of an Effective Acknowledgement
• 3 10 Tips for Writing an Acknowledgement for a Research Paper
• 4.1 Sample 1: Acknowledgement for Collaborative Research:
• 4.2 Sample 2: Acknowledgement for Funding Support:
• 4.3 Sample 3: Acknowledgement for Mentorship and Guidance:
• 4.4 Sample 4: Acknowledgement for Institutional Support:
• 4.5 Sample 5: Acknowledgement for Peer Reviewers:
• 6 Conclusion

Understanding the Role of Acknowledgements in Research Papers

Acknowledgements serve as a platform to express appreciation and recognize the collective effort that goes into the completion of a research paper. They provide an opportunity to acknowledge the guidance, support, and assistance received throughout the research process. By including acknowledgements, you can demonstrate your gratitude and give credit to those who have contributed to your success.

Key Elements of an Effective Acknowledgement

Crafting an effective acknowledgement involves considering various elements to ensure its sincerity and clarity. It is crucial to mention specific individuals, institutions, and their contributions, while keeping the acknowledgement concise and relevant. By adhering to ethical considerations and cultural norms, you can create an acknowledgement that reflects your gratitude and professionalism.

10 Tips for Writing an Acknowledgement for a Research Paper

• Be sincere and genuine : Write your acknowledgements with heartfelt gratitude, expressing sincere appreciation for the support and contributions received during your research.
• Identify specific individuals and institutions: Mention the names of people who have played a significant role in your research, such as mentors, advisors, collaborators, and funding agencies. Also, acknowledge the contributions of institutions that provided resources or facilities.
• Be concise and focused: Keep your acknowledgements concise and to the point. Focus on the key individuals and organizations that have made a substantial impact on your research.
• Use a formal tone: Maintain a professional and formal tone throughout your acknowledgements. Remember that this section is a formal acknowledgment of support, not a casual conversation.
• Follow ethical considerations: Ensure that you acknowledge individuals and organizations according to ethical guidelines and norms. Respect the privacy and confidentiality of individuals who may prefer not to be mentioned.
• Include personal touches: If appropriate, you can include personal anecdotes or specific instances where individuals or organizations made a significant impact on your research.
• Tailor acknowledgements to your research context: Consider the nature of your research and tailor your acknowledgements accordingly. For example, if you conducted interdisciplinary research, acknowledge experts from different fields who provided valuable insights.
• Proofread and edit: Like any other section of your research paper, proofread and edit your acknowledgements for grammar, spelling, and clarity. Ensure that the acknowledgements are well-written and free of errors.
• Seek feedback if needed: If you’re uncertain about whom to acknowledge or how to express your gratitude, seek feedback from your mentors, advisors, or colleagues. They can provide valuable guidance and suggestions.
• Show appreciation beyond formal requirements: While it’s important to acknowledge the required individuals and institutions, also consider extending your appreciation to others who may have supported you indirectly, such as family, friends, or colleagues who provided emotional support during your research journey.

Remember, acknowledgements are an opportunity to express your gratitude and recognize the contributions of those who have helped you along the way. Take the time to craft a thoughtful and sincere acknowledgement section that reflects the support and collaborative spirit of your research endeavor.

5 Samples for Acknowledgment in Research Paper

Explore these 5 carefully crafted acknowledgment samples to effectively express gratitude in your research paper.

Sample 1: Acknowledgement for Collaborative Research:

In this sample, we showcase an acknowledgement that acknowledges the collaborative efforts of research collaborators and team members. It highlights the importance of recognizing the joint contributions made towards the research project.

“I would like to express my deepest appreciation to the members of the research team, [Collaborators’ Names], for their invaluable contributions and collaborative spirit throughout this research project. Our collective efforts and synergistic teamwork have significantly enhanced the quality and depth of this study. Each member’s unique expertise and perspectives have brought forth diverse insights, resulting in a more comprehensive and well-rounded analysis.

I am grateful for the dedication, commitment, and professionalism demonstrated by each team member. The constructive discussions, intellectual debates, and shared enthusiasm have fostered an enriching research environment that has truly pushed the boundaries of our collective knowledge. This research project stands as a testament to the power of collaboration and the collective pursuit of knowledge.”

Sample 2: Acknowledgement for Funding Support:

This sample acknowledgement focuses on acknowledging the financial support received for the research. It emphasizes the significance of recognizing funding agencies or organizations that have provided the necessary resources for the research to take place.

“I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the funding agencies and organizations that have provided financial support for this research. Their generous contributions have made it possible to conduct this study and have significantly contributed to its successful completion. The financial support has allowed for the procurement of necessary research materials, access to specialized equipment, and the opportunity to engage in valuable research experiences.

I would like to express my appreciation to [Name of Funding Agency/Organization 1] for their generous grant, which has played a crucial role in supporting this research project. Their belief in the significance of this study and their commitment to advancing knowledge in this field have been instrumental in its realization.

Furthermore, I would like to acknowledge the support received from [Name of Funding Agency/Organization 2]. Their funding has been vital in facilitating data collection, analysis, and the dissemination of research findings. Their investment in this project has not only provided financial resources but has also validated the importance and potential impact of this research.”

Sample 3: Acknowledgement for Mentorship and Guidance:

Here, we present a sample acknowledgement that expresses gratitude towards mentors and advisors who have provided guidance and support throughout the research journey. It underscores the critical role of mentorship in academic and research endeavors.

“I am deeply grateful to my mentor, [Mentor’s Name], for their exceptional guidance and unwavering support throughout this research endeavor. Their expertise, insightful feedback, and continuous encouragement have been invaluable in shaping the direction and outcomes of this study. Their unwavering commitment to my academic growth and professional development has been truly inspiring.

I am indebted to [Mentor’s Name] for their generous allocation of time and resources, their willingness to share their wealth of knowledge, and their unwavering dedication to pushing me to new heights. Their mentorship has not only enriched the quality of this research but has also had a profound impact on my personal and intellectual growth. I am truly fortunate to have had the privilege of working under their guidance.”

Sample 4: Acknowledgement for Institutional Support:

In this sample, we illustrate an acknowledgement that acknowledges the support and resources provided by institutions. It emphasizes the institutional backing that has facilitated the research process and contributed to its success.

“I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the faculty members and academic advisors who have provided guidance, feedback, and support throughout my academic journey. Their expertise, wisdom, and dedication to teaching and mentoring have been instrumental in shaping my research skills and scholarly pursuits.

I am grateful to [Name of Faculty Member/Advisor 1] for their unwavering support and invaluable insights. Their expertise and guidance have been critical in refining the research design, analyzing data, and interpreting findings. Their constructive feedback and intellectual discussions have truly enriched this study.

I would also like to acknowledge the contributions of [Name of Faculty Member/Advisor 2]. Their mentorship and encouragement have played a pivotal role in the development of my research abilities and have inspired me to reach for new heights. Their belief in my potential has been a constant source of motivation throughout this research journey.”

Sample 5: Acknowledgement for Peer Reviewers:

“I would like to express my deepest gratitude to the anonymous peer reviewers who have dedicated their time and expertise to provide valuable feedback and constructive criticism on this research paper. Their rigorous evaluation, insightful comments, and suggestions for improvement have immensely contributed to the quality and credibility of this work.

The meticulous review process conducted by the peer reviewers has helped shape and refine the content, methodology, and interpretation of this study. Their expertise in the field and their commitment to upholding scholarly standards have been crucial in ensuring the accuracy, validity, and relevance of the research findings.

I am sincerely grateful for the time and effort invested by each reviewer in thoroughly assessing this paper. Their detailed comments and recommendations have not only helped enhance the clarity and coherence of the manuscript but have also encouraged further reflection and refinement of the research.

The contributions of the peer reviewers are invaluable in the advancement of scientific knowledge and the improvement of academic publications. Their commitment to maintaining the rigor and integrity of the research process plays a pivotal role in fostering academic excellence and promoting the dissemination of high-quality research outcomes.”

When writing an acknowledgement in a research paper, begin by expressing gratitude to individuals, institutions, or organizations who have contributed to the research. Provide a sincere and concise acknowledgement, mentioning their specific contributions and the impact they made on the study.

While specific examples may vary depending on the research context, an acknowledgement section in a journal article typically acknowledges the contributions of individuals, funding sources, or institutions involved in the research process. It expresses gratitude for their support, guidance, or resources.

The purpose of the acknowledgement section in a research paper is to recognize and express gratitude to individuals or entities who have supported the research. It acknowledges their contributions, whether through funding, mentorship, technical assistance, data provision, or other forms of support.

When writing acknowledgements for a publication , start by identifying the key individuals or entities that have contributed to the research. Express gratitude for their support, mentioning specific contributions and the value they added to the study. Keep the acknowledgements concise and focused on the research context.

The acknowledgement section of a research paper should include acknowledgements for individuals or entities that have contributed to the research process. This may include mentors, advisors, funding agencies, research collaborators, or others who have provided valuable support, guidance, or resources.

While including an acknowledgement section in a research paper is not mandatory, it is a common practice in academic publishing. It provides an opportunity to acknowledge and appreciate the contributions of individuals or entities who have supported the research.

When writing an acknowledgements section for a literature review, acknowledge individuals or sources that have influenced and contributed to your understanding of the topic. Express gratitude for their insights, guidance, or resources that have shaped your literature review.

The terms “acknowledgement” and “acknowledgment” are both correct and interchangeable. The choice of spelling (with or without the “e”) may depend on regional or personal preferences.

To acknowledge a source in a research paper, use proper citation and referencing techniques according to the specific citation style guidelines. Include in-text citations and a corresponding entry in the reference list or bibliography to give credit to the original source.

Yes, you can acknowledge individuals who provided personal support in the acknowledgement section, such as family, friends, or loved ones. Recognize their emotional support, encouragement, or understanding during the research process.

Writing acknowledgements for a research paper allows you to express gratitude and acknowledge the invaluable contributions of individuals and institutions who have supported your work. By following the tips and utilizing the sample acknowledgements provided in this article, you can effectively and sincerely express your appreciation. Remember, acknowledgements are an opportunity to show your gratitude and give credit where it is due.

Acknowledgement for Paper Publication (10 Samples)

Acknowledgement for internship report: 10 samples and tips, leave a comment cancel reply.

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Acknowledgement in Research Paper – A Quick Guide [5 Examples]

The acknowledgement section in your research paper is where you thank those who have helped or supported you throughout your research and writing. It is a short section of 3-5 paragraphs or no more than 300 words you put on a page after the title page.

In this post, we are going to provide you with five examples of acknowlegdement section and a handful of best practices you can make your work look professional.

Saying thank you with style

How to write an acknowledgement: the complete guide for students, why should i include an acknowledgement in my research paper.

Acknowledging assistance and contributions from others can establish your integrity as a researcher. This will eventually make your work more credible.

What should be acknowledged about (aka thankful for)?

In your acknowledgement, you can show gratitude for those who provide you with resources in the following area:

• Technical help may include people who helped you by providing materials and supplies.
• Intellectual help includes academic advice and assistance.
• Mental help can be any kind of verbal support and encouragement.
• Financial support that is obviously related to monetary support

Who should be included in the acknowledgement of a research paper?

You can include everyone who helped you technically, intellectually, or financially (assistance with grants or monetary help) in the process of researching and writing your research paper. Except for your family and friends, you should always include the full names with the title of these individuals:

• Your profession, supervisor, or teacher
• Academic staff (e.g. lab assistant) of your school/college
• Your department, faculty, college, or school
• Classmates, teammates, co-workers, or colleague
• Friends and family members

You can start with your professor or the individuals who supported you the most throughout the research. And then you can continue by thanking your institution and then the reviewer who reviewed your paper. Then you can thank your friends and families and any other individual who helped.

What is the tone of the acknowledgement in a research paper?

You should write your acknowledgement in formal language with complete sentences. It is appropriate to write in the first person (‘I’ for a single author or ‘we’ for two or more).

Note that  personal pronouns  such as ‘I, my, me …’ are nearly always used in the acknowledgements only. For the rest of the research paper, such  personal pronouns  are generally avoided.

Writing an acknowledgement for research paper is one of the important parts of your project report. You need to thank everyone for  helping you with your paper . Here are some examples of acknowledgement for your research paper.

Acknowledgement in Research Paper: Example 1

Acknowledgement in research paper: example 2, acknowledgement in research paper: example 3, acknowledgement in research paper: example 4, acknowledgement in research paper: example 5.

You can use these or try to create your own version for your project report. Also, you can use our auto  acknowledgement generator tool  to automatically generate acknowledgement for your project.

Where should I put the acknowledgement section?

The acknowledgements section should appear between your title page and your introduction in your research paper.

How long is an acknowledgement in a research paper?

The acknowledgement section (usualy inserted as a page) of your research paper should consist of 3-5 paragraphs or no more than 300 words you put on a page after the title page.

Should I use the full names of family members in an acknowledgement?

You do not necessarily need to use the full name for your family and friends (it would sound pretty awkward to use the full name of your parent or spouse right?), you should always include the full names with the title for all other individuals in your acknowledgement.

Can I use “first person” in an acknowledgement?

Yes. It is appropriate to write in the first person (‘I’ for a single author or ‘we’ for two or more).

What is an acknowledgement in academic writing?

An acknowledgement is a page is where you show appreciation to people who helped or supported you intellectually, mentally, or financially in your academic writing.

It should be no longer than one page.

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“Acknowledgement” vs “Acknowledgment”… …what the hack?

Both “acknowledgement” and “acknowledgment” are used in the English-speaking world. However, acknowledgement with the “e” in the middle is more commonly used. It is up to 24.5 times more popular in the top 5 English-speaking countries in the world.

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How-to Guides on Academic Writing and Others

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• Thesis & Dissertation Acknowledgements | Tips & Examples

Thesis & Dissertation Acknowledgements | Tips & Examples

Published on May 3, 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on July 18, 2023.

The acknowledgements section is your opportunity to thank those who have helped and supported you personally and professionally during your thesis or dissertation process.

Thesis or dissertation acknowledgements appear between your title page and abstract  and should be no longer than one page.

In your acknowledgements, it’s okay to use a more informal style than is usually permitted in academic writing , as well as first-person pronouns . Acknowledgements are not considered part of the academic work itself, but rather your chance to write something more personal.

To get started, download our step-by-step template in the format of your choice below. We’ve also included sample sentence starters to help you construct your acknowledgments section from scratch.

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Table of contents

Who to thank in your acknowledgements, how to write acknowledgements, acknowledgements section example, acknowledgements dos and don’ts, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about the acknowledgements section.

Generally, there are two main categories of acknowledgements: professional and personal .

A good first step is to check your university’s guidelines, as they may have rules or preferences about the order, phrasing, or layout of acknowledgements. Some institutions prefer that you keep your acknowledgements strictly professional.

Regardless, it’s usually a good idea to place professional acknowledgements first, followed by any personal ones. You can then proceed by ranking who you’d like to thank from most formal to least.

• Chairs, supervisors, or defense committees
• Funding bodies
• Other academics (e.g., colleagues or cohort members)
• Editors or proofreaders
• Librarians, research/laboratory assistants, or study participants
• Family, friends, or pets

Typically, it’s only necessary to mention people who directly supported you during your thesis or dissertation. However, if you feel that someone like a high school physics teacher was a great inspiration on the path to your current research, feel free to include them as well.

Professional acknowledgements

It is crucial to avoid overlooking anyone who helped you professionally as you completed your thesis or dissertation. As a rule of thumb, anyone who directly contributed to your research process, from figuring out your dissertation topic to your final proofread, should be mentioned.

A few things to keep in mind include:

• Even if you feel your chair didn’t help you very much, you should still thank them first to avoid looking like you’re snubbing them.
• Be sure to follow academic conventions, using full names with titles where appropriate.
• If several members of a group or organization assisted you, mention the collective name only.
• Remember the ethical considerations around anonymized data. If you wish to protect someone’s privacy, use only their first name or a generic identifier (such as “the interviewees”)/

Personal acknowledgements

There is no need to mention every member of your family or friend group. However, if someone was particularly inspiring or supportive, you may wish to mention them specifically. Many people choose to thank parents, partners, children, friends, and even pets, but you can mention anyone who offered moral support or encouragement, or helped you in a tangible or intangible way.

Some students may wish to dedicate their dissertation to a deceased influential person in their personal life. In this case, it’s okay to mention them first, before any professional acknowledgements.

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After you’ve compiled a list of who you’d like to thank, you can then sort your list into rank order. Separate everyone you listed into “major thanks,” “big thanks,” and “minor thanks” categories.

• “Major thanks” are given to people who your project would be impossible without. These are often predominantly professional acknowledgements, such as your advisor, chair, and committee, as well as any funders.
• “Big thanks” are an in-between, for those who helped you along the way or helped you grow intellectually, such as classmates, peers, or librarians.
• “Minor thanks” can be a catch-all for everyone else, especially those who offered moral support or encouragement. This can include personal acknowledgements, such as parents, partners, children, friends, or even pets.

How to phrase your acknowledgements

To avoid acknowledgements that sound repetitive or dull, consider changing up your phrasing. Here are some examples of common sentence starters you can use for each category.

Note that you do not need to write any sort of conclusion or summary at the end. You can simply end the acknowledgements with your last thank you.

Here’s an example of how you can combine the different sentences to write your acknowledgements.

A simple construction consists of a sentence starter (in purple highlight ), followed by the person or entity mentioned (in green highlight ), followed by what you’re thanking them for (in yellow highlight .)

Acknowledgements

Words cannot express my gratitude to my professor and chair of my committee for her invaluable patience and feedback. I also could not have undertaken this journey without my defense committee, who generously provided knowledge and expertise. Additionally, this endeavor would not have been possible without the generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, who financed my research .

I am also grateful to my classmates and cohort members, especially my office mates, for their editing help, late-night feedback sessions, and moral support. Thanks should also go to the librarians, research assistants, and study participants from the university, who impacted and inspired me.

Lastly, I would be remiss in not mentioning my family, especially my parents, spouse, and children. Their belief in me has kept my spirits and motivation high during this process. I would also like to thank my cat for all the entertainment and emotional support.

• Write in first-person, professional language
• Thank your professional contacts first
• Include full names, titles, and roles of professional acknowledgements
• Include personal or intangible supporters, like friends, family, or even pets
• Mention funding bodies and what they funded
• Appropriately anonymize or group research participants or non-individual acknowledgments

Don’t:

• Use informal language or slang
• Go over one page in length
• Mention people who had only a peripheral or minor impact on your work

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In the acknowledgements of your thesis or dissertation, you should first thank those who helped you academically or professionally, such as your supervisor, funders, and other academics.

Then you can include personal thanks to friends, family members, or anyone else who supported you during the process.

Yes, it’s important to thank your supervisor(s) in the acknowledgements section of your thesis or dissertation .

Even if you feel your supervisor did not contribute greatly to the final product, you must acknowledge them, if only for a very brief thank you. If you do not include your supervisor, it may be seen as a snub.

The acknowledgements are generally included at the very beginning of your thesis , directly after the title page and before the abstract .

In a thesis or dissertation, the acknowledgements should usually be no longer than one page. There is no minimum length.

You may acknowledge God in your dissertation acknowledgements , but be sure to follow academic convention by also thanking the members of academia, as well as family, colleagues, and friends who helped you.

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Acknowledgement in Research Paper | How to Write | Perfect Example

What is acknowledgement in research paper.

Acknowledgement in a research paper is the section where the author expresses gratitude to individuals and organizations who have contributed to the completion of the study. This section is usually placed at the beginning or end of the paper and is an important part of the research process. It allows the author to recognize the support, assistance, and guidance they have received from others in the course of their research.

What is the purpose of acknowledgement in research paper?

The acknowledgement section is an opportunity for the author to show appreciation for anyone who has helped them in the research process, including mentors, advisors, colleagues, and funding agencies. It is also a way to acknowledge the contributions of participants, interviewees, or anyone else who has played a role in the study.

Acknowledgements can also include thanks to individuals who have provided critical feedback, technical assistance, or resources that have been essential to the research project. Overall, this section is a way for the author to show their appreciation for the collaborative and supportive nature of the research community.

How to write acknowledgement in research paper?

• Identify Key Contributors : Make a list of individuals and organizations that have contributed significantly to your research. This includes advisors, mentors, collaborators, funders, participants, and institutions.
• Understand the Purpose : Acknowledgments are meant to recognize and thank those who have supported or contributed to your research in various ways. Understand the purpose of this section is to express gratitude and recognize their contributions.
• Be Genuine and Specific : Your acknowledgments should be sincere and specific. Avoid generic expressions of thanks and instead, mention the specific contributions each person or organization made to your research.
• Start with Formality : Begin your acknowledgment section with a formal tone and expression of gratitude. Address individuals with their appropriate titles, such as Dr., Prof., Mr., or Ms., and mention any institutional affiliations if relevant.
• Personalize Your Thanks : Tailor your acknowledgments to acknowledge each individual’s specific contributions. Mention how their support, guidance, or expertise influenced your research or contributed to its success.
• Maintain Professionalism : While acknowledgments can be personal, maintain a professional tone and avoid overly informal language or colloquialisms. Remember that this section is part of your scholarly work.
• Consider Cultural Sensitivities : Be mindful of cultural norms and sensitivities when expressing gratitude, especially if your research involves international collaborations. Tailor your acknowledgments to reflect cultural expectations or customs, as appropriate.
• Proofread Carefully : Ensure your acknowledgments are free of grammatical errors and typos. Take the time to review and edit this section to ensure clarity and coherence.
• Respect Space Limitations : While it’s important to acknowledge all key contributors, be mindful of space limitations in your research paper. Prioritize mentioning those who made significant contributions while being respectful of length constraints.
• End on a Positive Note : Conclude your acknowledgment section with a positive and appreciative tone. Express your gratitude to everyone who supported your research journey, including family, friends, colleagues, and institutions.

Example of Acknowledgement in Research

I am immensely grateful to the individuals and organizations whose support and guidance have been instrumental in the completion of this research paper. Their assistance and expertise have significantly contributed to the development and refinement of my study.

Firstly, I extend my heartfelt appreciation to Dr. Aurora Rivera, my mentor and advisor throughout this research journey. Her insightful feedback, encouragement, and scholarly guidance have been invaluable in shaping the direction and methodology of my study.

I am also deeply thankful to Mr. Santiago Cruz, Director of Research at the Philippine Social Sciences Institute, for his generous support and assistance in accessing research resources. His expertise and encouragement have greatly facilitated the progress of my research.

Special gratitude is extended to my research collaborators, including Dr. Sofia Ramirez and Mr. Miguel Hernandez, for their collaborative efforts and insightful perspectives that have enriched the depth and analysis of my research findings.

I would like to acknowledge the valuable contributions of the staff and researchers at the Philippine Research Center for Social Sciences, whose support and expertise have been indispensable in navigating complex research methodologies and data analysis.

Furthermore, I extend my sincere appreciation to the participants of my study for their cooperation and willingness to share their experiences, which have provided essential insights and perspectives.

I wish to express my profound gratitude to my family and friends for their unwavering support, encouragement, and understanding throughout this research endeavor. Their belief in my abilities has been a constant source of motivation and inspiration.

Acknowledgement in Research Paper Example

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the individuals and institutions whose unwavering support has been indispensable in the completion of this research paper. Their guidance, encouragement, and expertise have greatly contributed to the success of our study.

Firstly, we express our sincere appreciation to Dr. Juanita Cruz, Professor of Economics at the University of the Philippines, for her invaluable mentorship and insightful feedback throughout the research process. Her expertise in the field has been instrumental in shaping the direction of our study.

We are also indebted to Dr. Manuel Reyes, Director of the Philippine Economic Development Institute, for his generous assistance and provision of research resources. His support has been pivotal in enhancing the quality and depth of our analysis.

Special thanks are extended to our research collaborators, including Dr. Sofia Garcia from the Department of Political Science at Ateneo de Manila University, and Dr. Miguel Hernandez from the Department of Sociology at Mapua University. Their collaboration and expertise have enriched our research with diverse perspectives and profound insights.

We would like to acknowledge the invaluable assistance provided by the staff and researchers at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, who generously shared their knowledge and resources throughout the duration of our study.

Furthermore, we extend our gratitude to the participants of our study, whose cooperation and willingness to share their experiences have been instrumental in shaping our findings.

• Acknowledgement for Thesis
• Acknowledgement for Dissertation

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The Acknowledgements Section

How to write the acknowledgements for your thesis or dissertation

By: Derek Jansen (MBA) | Reviewers: Dr Eunice Rautenbach | January 2024

Writing the acknowledgements section of your thesis might seem straightforward, but it’s more than just a list of names . In this post, we’ll unpack everything you need to know to write up a rock-solid acknowledgements section for your dissertation or thesis.

Overview: The Acknowledgements

• What (exactly) is the acknowledgements section?

Who should you acknowledge?

• How to write the section
• Practical example
• Free acknowledgements template
• Key takeaways

What is the acknowledgements section?

The acknowledgements section of your thesis or dissertation is where you give thanks to the people who contributed to your project’s success. Generally speaking, this is a relatively brief, less formal section.  

With the acknowledgements section, you have the opportunity to show appreciation for the guidance, support, and resources provided by others during your research journey. We’ll unpack the exact contents, order and structure of this section in this post.

Need a helping hand?

Although this is a less “academic” section, acknowledging the right people in the correct order is still important. Typically, you’ll start with the most formal (academic) support received, before moving on to other types of support.

Here’s a suggested order that you can follow when writing up your acknowledgements:

Level 1: Supervisors and academic staff

Start with those who have provided you with academic guidance, including your supervisor, advisors, and other faculty members.

Level 2: Funding bodies or sponsors

If your research was funded, acknowledging these organisations is essential. You don’t need to get into the specifics of the funding, but you should recognise the important role that this made in bringing your project to life.

Level 3: Colleagues and peers

Next you’ll want to mention those who contributed intellectually to your work, including your fellow cohort members and researchers.

Level 4: Family, friends and pets

Last but certainly not least, you should acknowledge your personal (non-academic) support system – those who have provided emotional and moral support. If Fido kept you company during those long nights hunched over the keyboard, you can also thank him here 🙂

As you can see, the order of the acknowledgements goes from the most academic to the least . Importantly, your thesis or dissertation supervisor (sometimes also called an advisor) generally comes first . This is because they are typically the person most involved in shaping your project (or at least, they should be). Plus, they’re oftentimes involved in marking your final work and so a kind word never hurts…

All that said, remember that your acknowledgements section is personal . So, feel free to adjust this order, but do pay close attention to any guidelines or rules provided by your university. If they specify a certain order or set of contents, follow their instructions to the letter.

How to write the acknowledgements section

In terms of style, try to strike a balance between conveying a formal tone and a personal touch . In practical terms, this means that you should use plain, straightforward language (this isn’t the time for heavy academic jargon), but avoid using any slang, nicknames, etc.

As a guide, you’ll typically use some of the following phrases in the acknowledgements section:

I would like to express my appreciation to… for their help with… I’m particularly grateful to… as they provided… I could not have completed this project without… as this allowed me to… Special thanks to… who did… I had the pleasure of working with… who helped me… I’d also like to recognise… who assisted me with…

In terms of positioning, the acknowledgements section is typically in the preliminary matter , most commonly after the abstract and before the table of contents. In terms of length, this section usually spans one to three paragraphs , but there’s no strict word limit (unless your university’s brief states otherwise, of course).

If you’re unsure where to place your acknowledgements or what length to make this section, it’s a good idea to have a look at past dissertations and theses from your university and/or department to get a clearer view of what the norms are.

Practical Example

Alright, let’s look at an example to give you a better idea of what this section looks like in practice.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Smith, whose expertise and knowledge were invaluable during this research. My sincere thanks also go to the University Research Fund for their financial support.   I am deeply thankful to my colleagues, John and Jane, for their insightful discussions and moral support. Lastly, I must acknowledge my family for their unwavering love and encouragement. Without your support, this project would not have been possible.

As you can see in this example, the section is short and to the point , working from formal support through to personal support.

To simplify the process, we’ve created a free template for the acknowledgements section. If you’re interested, you can download a copy here .

FAQs: Acknowledgements

Can i include some humour in my acknowledgements.

A touch of light humour is okay, but keep it appropriate and professional. Remember that this is still part of an academic document.

Can I acknowledge someone who provided informal or emotional support?

Yes, you can thank anyone who offered emotional support, motivation, or even informal advice that helped you during your studies. This can include friends, family members, or a mentor/coach who provided guidance outside of an academic setting.

Should I mention any challenges or difficulties I faced during my research?

While the acknowledgements section is primarily for expressing gratitude, briefly mentioning significant challenges you overcame can highlight the importance of the support you received. That said, you’ll want to keep the focus on the gratitude aspect and avoid delving too deeply into the challenges themselves.

Can I acknowledge the contribution of participants in my research?

Absolutely. If your research involved participants, especially in fields like social sciences or human studies, acknowledging their contribution is not only courteous but also an ethical practice. It shows respect for their participation and contribution to your research.

How do I acknowledge posthumous gratitude, for someone who passed away during my study period?

Acknowledging a deceased individual who played a significant role in your academic journey can be done respectfully. Mention them in the same way you would a living contributor, perhaps adding a note of remembrance.

For example, “I would like to posthumously acknowledge John McAnders for their invaluable advice and support in the early stages of this research.”.

Is there a limit to the number of people I can acknowledge?

How do i acknowledge a group or organisation.

When thanking a group or organization, mention the entity by name and, if applicable, include specific individuals within the organization who were particularly helpful.

For example, “I extend my thanks to The Speakers Foundation for their support, particularly Mr Joe Wilkins, for their guidance.”

Recap: Key Takeaways

Writing the acknowledgements section of your thesis or dissertation is an opportunity to express gratitude to everyone who helped you along the way.

Remember to:

• Acknowledge those people who significantly contributed to your research journey
• Order your thanks from formal support to personal support
• Maintain a balance between formal and personal tones
• Keep it concise

In a nutshell, use this section to reflect your appreciation in a genuinely and professionally way.

Psst… there’s more (for free)

This post is part of our dissertation mini-course, which covers everything you need to get started with your dissertation, thesis or research project. 

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How to Write Acknowledgement in Research Paper

Table of Contents

Writing an acknowledgement in a research paper is an integral part of the process. It is a formal way of expressing gratitude to the individuals and institutions that contributed to the completion of your research.

This section, though not mandatory, holds significant value as it acknowledges the efforts of those who assisted you in the successful completion of your project. In this comprehensive guide, we will delve into the intricacies of writing an effective acknowledgement for your research paper.

Introduction

Acknowledgements serve a crucial role in research papers. They not only express gratitude but also provide a sense of credibility to your work. Acknowledging the contributions of others shows that your research is a collective effort, which can enhance the perceived validity of your findings.

Moreover, acknowledgements can also serve as a platform for you to demonstrate your professional courtesy and respect for the individuals and institutions that have supported your research. This can help in fostering positive relationships, which can be beneficial for your future research endeavors.

Who to Acknowledge in Your Research Paper

Deciding who to acknowledge in your research paper can be a challenging task. It is important to ensure that you do not overlook anyone who has contributed to your research. Here are some categories of individuals and institutions that you might consider acknowledging:

Academic Advisors and Supervisors

Your academic advisors and supervisors are likely to be your first point of contact for guidance and support during your research. They provide valuable insights, feedback, and direction, which can significantly influence the outcome of your research.

Therefore, acknowledging them in your research paper is a way of expressing your gratitude for their assistance and guidance. It also shows your respect for their expertise and dedication to your research.

Research Participants and Collaborators

Research participants and collaborators play a crucial role in the success of your research. They provide the data or information necessary for your research, making their contribution invaluable.

Acknowledging them in your research paper is a way of showing your appreciation for their time and effort. It also symbolizes your respect for their contribution to your research.

Funding Bodies and Institutions

Funding bodies and institutions provide the financial support necessary for conducting your research. Without their support, it might be challenging to carry out your research effectively.

Therefore, acknowledging them in your research paper is a way of expressing your gratitude for their financial support. It also shows your appreciation for their trust in your research capabilities.

How to Write Acknowledgements for Your Research Paper

Writing acknowledgements for your research paper involves more than simply listing names. It requires a thoughtful and sincere expression of gratitude. Here are some steps to guide you in writing effective acknowledgements:

Start with the Most Significant Contributions

Begin your acknowledgements by expressing gratitude to those who have made the most significant contributions to your research. This could be your academic advisors, supervisors, or funding bodies. Starting with the most significant contributions helps to set the tone for the rest of your acknowledgements.

Ensure that you express your gratitude sincerely and professionally. Avoid using overly emotional or informal language as this can undermine the professionalism of your acknowledgements.

Acknowledge Other Contributors

After acknowledging the most significant contributors, proceed to acknowledge other individuals and institutions that have supported your research. This could include research participants, collaborators, and other supportive individuals or institutions.

When acknowledging these contributors, be sure to express your gratitude sincerely and professionally. Also, ensure that you acknowledge each contributor individually to show your appreciation for their unique contribution.

Use Appropriate Language and Tone

The language and tone you use in your acknowledgements can significantly influence how they are perceived. Therefore, it is important to use appropriate language and maintain a professional tone throughout your acknowledgements.

Use formal language and avoid using jargon or colloquial expressions. Also, maintain a consistent tone throughout your acknowledgements to ensure that they are coherent and easy to read.

Examples of Acknowledgements in Research Papers

Here are a few examples that demonstrate how to acknowledge different contributors effectively:

"I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Professor ABC , for his invaluable guidance and support throughout this research. His expertise and dedication have been a source of inspiration and motivation."

"I am deeply grateful to all the participants who generously shared their time and experiences for this research. Their contributions have been instrumental in the success of this study."

"This research was made possible by the generous funding from ABC Foundation . I am profoundly grateful for their support and trust in my research capabilities."

Writing acknowledgements in a research paper is a thoughtful process that requires careful consideration of who to acknowledge and how to express gratitude. By following the guidelines and examples provided in this article, you can write effective acknowledgements that reflect your appreciation and respect for the contributions of others to your research.

Remember, acknowledgements are more than just a formality. They are an opportunity to express your gratitude and respect for the individuals and institutions that have supported your research journey. So, take the time to write acknowledgements that are sincere, professional, and reflective of your gratitude.

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Recognizing Contributions: Acknowledge In Research Paper

Learn how to acknowledge in research paper with our simple guide, and ensure that your work gains recognition.

When we work on any project, it’s not just about our individual effort, it’s about teamwork as well. It’s important to acknowledge the contributions of others who have helped you along the way. This is where the acknowledgment section comes in. In this part of your paper, you can express your gratitude to those who have supported you throughout the research process, such as funders, advisors, assistants, collaborators, participants, and editors.

However, it’s important to be mindful of ethical considerations and avoid any promotion or advertising of specific individuals or organizations. In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about acknowledgments, including how to acknowledge in research paper ,  tips for writing them, common mistakes to avoid, and ethical considerations. So, let’s get started!

What Is Acknowledgement In A Research Paper?

The acknowledgment section in a research paper credits individuals, institutions, or organizations that aided in the research or manuscript preparation. It’s usually found after the conclusion.

While optional, acknowledgments are commonly added to recognize and thank contributors for their efforts. This section typically starts with a statement thanking those who funded or supported the project, along with colleagues, research assistants, or other contributors who provided valuable feedback or assistance.

Being specific and detailing the contributions of each individual or organization is crucial to show their importance in the research process. However, it’s unnecessary to acknowledge everyone who helped, and acknowledgments should be kept brief and relevant to the project.

Why Is Acknowledgment Important?

Acknowledgment holds significant importance in research as it acknowledges and provides credit to individuals or organizations who have contributed to the research project. It expresses gratitude for their guidance, support, and assistance during the research process.

Acknowledgments are commonly included in research papers to build relationships and encourage future collaborations with those who have supported the research. By acknowledging their contributions, researchers demonstrate their appreciation for the input of others and the importance of collaboration in the research process.

Moreover, the acknowledgment section ensures academic integrity by recognizing and crediting all contributors to the research project. It also prevents any potential issues related to plagiarism or lack of attribution. 

Who Should Be Acknowledged?

Acknowledgments in a research paper should recognize and give credit to individuals, organizations, or institutions that contributed to the research project in some way. This can include: 

• Funding sources: Acknowledge those who provided financial support for the research project.
• Academic advisors or mentors: Acknowledge those who provided guidance or supervision throughout the research process.
• Research assistants: Acknowledge those who provided technical or administrative support during the research.
• Participants : Acknowledge those who took part in the research study, such as survey respondents.
• Collaborators : Acknowledge colleagues or other researchers who contributed to the research project in some way.
• Editors or proofreaders: Acknowledge those who helped with editing or proofreading the manuscript .
• Institutions or organizations: Acknowledge the institution or organization that provided resources or support for the research project. 

Types Of Acknowledgement

Acknowledgment in a research paper can take various forms, depending on the purpose and context of the project. Here are some common types of acknowledgments: 

1. Formal Acknowledgments

These are typically written in a formal tone and are used to recognize and give credit to people, organizations, or institutions that provide financial or technical support to the research project. These acknowledgments often appear at the beginning or end of the research paper and may include formal language and formatting.

2. Informal Acknowledgments

These acknowledgments are often more personal and informal in tone. They may include acknowledging friends, family members, or colleagues who provided emotional support or helped in some way during the research process.

3. Professional Acknowledgments

These acknowledgments are typically used in academic or professional settings and are aimed at giving credit to individuals or organizations that contributed to the research project. These acknowledgments may include thanking mentors, colleagues, research assistants, or funding agencies.

4. Collaborative Acknowledgments

These acknowledgments are used to recognize the collaborative nature of research projects. They may include acknowledging co-authors, collaborators, or other researchers who contributed to the project in some way.

Tips For Writing An Acknowledgement

When writing acknowledgment in a research paper, it’s important to keep the following tips in mind: 

• Be specific: Clearly mention the contributions made by individuals or organizations, and how they helped in the research process.
• Use appropriate tone: Write in a professional tone and avoid using overly emotional language.
• Keep it concise: Avoid lengthy paragraphs and keep the acknowledgment section brief and relevant.
• Follow the required format: Check the guidelines provided by the journal or institution and ensure that you follow the required format.
• Proofread: Carefully proofread the acknowledgment section for any errors or typos.
• Be grateful: Show appreciation and gratitude to the individuals or organizations who contributed to the research project.
• Avoid self-promotion: The acknowledgment section should not be used to promote oneself or one’s organization.

 Examples Of Acknowledgement

Examples of acknowledgments in a research paper include thanking the funding sources, academic advisors or mentors, research assistants, participants, collaborators, editors or proofreaders, and institutions or organizations that provided support. Here are some sample acknowledgments that are concise and relevant to the research project:

Acknowledge In Research Paper: Example 1

“I would like to thank Dr. Ram for his invaluable guidance and support throughout this project. I am also grateful to my research assistant, Priya, for her technical expertise and administrative assistance. This project would not have been possible without the generous financial support of the XYZ Foundation. Lastly, I would like to acknowledge the study participants who generously shared their time and insights.”

Acknowledge In Research Paper: Example 2

“I am indebted to Dr. Mary for her continuous support and feedback throughout the research process. I also want to thank my colleagues, Shahin and Sarah, for their valuable input and suggestions. The editorial assistance provided by XYZ Editing Services was also greatly appreciated. I am also grateful to the ABC Institution for providing the necessary resources for this research project.”

Common Mistakes To Avoid When Writing An Acknowledgement

When writing acknowledgment, it’s important to avoid certain mistakes, such as:

• Forgetting to acknowledge someone who contributed to the research project.
• Using vague language instead of specific details about how someone contributed.
• Focusing too much on personal anecdotes or stories, rather than keeping the acknowledgment concise and relevant to the research project.
• Using the acknowledgment section to promote or advertise specific individuals or organizations.
• Forgetting to proofread the acknowledgment section for errors in grammar or spelling.
• Including acknowledgments that are not relevant to the research project.
• Making it too formal or too casual, rather than matching the tone of the rest of the research paper.

To avoid these mistakes, it’s important to carefully consider who should be acknowledged, what specific contributions they made, and to keep the language concise and relevant to the research project. It’s also helpful to have someone else review the acknowledgment section to ensure that it’s free of errors and strikes the right tone.

How To Acknowledge In Research Paper? 

• When citing an acknowledgment in a research paper, it should be listed as a separate section at the end of the paper, following the references section. It should be titled “Acknowledgement” and be placed after the conclusion but before the reference list.
• Acknowledgment section should not be included within the text citation or reference list. However, if a person or organization mentioned in the acknowledgment section was cited within the text, it should be included in the in-text citation and reference list.
• It’s important to make sure that acknowledgments are cited correctly in order to give credit to those who contributed to the research project. This will help to ensure academic integrity and avoid plagiarism. Learn more about Plagiarism here .

Ethical Considerations For Acknowledging Others In Your Research Paper

It is essential to consider ethical principles when acknowledging others in your research paper. First and foremost, ensure that you acknowledge all individuals and organizations that made significant contributions to your research. This acknowledgment must be honest and accurate and should not falsely claim credit for the work of others.

Additionally, it is crucial to obtain consent from individuals before acknowledging them in your research paper, particularly when using their personal information. Ensure that you have informed them about how their contribution will be acknowledged and seek their permission to do so.

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About Sowjanya Pedada

Sowjanya is a passionate writer and an avid reader. She holds MBA in Agribusiness Management and now is working as a content writer. She loves to play with words and hopes to make a difference in the world through her writings. Apart from writing, she is interested in reading fiction novels and doing craftwork. She also loves to travel and explore different cuisines and spend time with her family and friends.

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Acknowledgements Example for an Academic Research Paper

Posted by Rene Tetzner | Sep 1, 2021 | How To Get Published | 0 |

Acknowledgements Example for an Academic or Scientific Research Paper This example of acknowledgements for a research paper is designed to demonstrate how intellectual, financial and other research contributions should be formally acknowledged in academic and scientific writing. As brief acknowledgements for a research paper, the example gathers contributions of different kinds – intellectual assistance, financial support, image credits etc. – into a single Acknowledgements section. Do note, however, that the formats preferred by some scholarly journals require the separation of certain contributions such as financial support of research into their own sections.

Although authors often write acknowledgements hastily, the Acknowledgements section is an important part of a research paper. Acknowledging assistance and contributions establishes your integrity as a researcher as well as your connections and collaborations. It can also help your readers with their own research, affect the influence and impact of the researchers and other professionals you thank, and demonstrate the value and purpose of the agencies that fund your work. The contents of the example I have prepared here are appropriate for a research paper intended for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, but the author, the research project, the manuscript studied, the journal publishing the paper and all those to whom gratitude is extended are entirely fictional. They were created for the purpose of demonstrating the following key concerns when writing the acknowledgements for a formal research paper:

•   Writing in the first person (‘I’ for a single author or ‘we’ for two or more) to offer concise but sincere acknowledgements of specific contributions to your research. •   Maintaining formal language, complete sentences and a professional tone to give specific and thorough information about contributions and convey collegial gratitude. •   Expressing respect and appreciation in an appropriate fashion for each and every contribution and avoiding artificial or excessive flattery. •   Using the complete names and preferred name formats for individuals, funding agencies, libraries, businesses and other organisations. Here, for example, I posit that the library holding the relevant manuscript has indicated that the name of the collection (lengthy though it is) should not be abbreviated. •   Acknowledging contributions to your research and paper in the order that best represents the nature and importance of those contributions. The assistance of the author’s mentor comes first here, for instance, whereas the language editor is acknowledged much further down the list. •   Meeting the requirements for acknowledgements set by the journal or other publisher of the research paper. For the example below, the goal is to record all relevant contributions to the research and paper in a single brief Acknowledgements section of 500 words or less – a set of parameters that would suit the acknowledgement requirements or expectations of many academic and scientific journals and even fit into a footnote or endnote if necessary.

Example Acknowledgements for an Academic Research Paper This paper and the research behind it would not have been possible without the exceptional support of my supervisor, Lawrence Magister. His enthusiasm, knowledge and exacting attention to detail have been an inspiration and kept my work on track from my first encounter with the log books of British Naval Ships MS VII.2.77 to the final draft of this paper. Margaret Kempis and Matthew Brown, my colleagues at Western University, have also looked over my transcriptions and answered with unfailing patience numerous questions about the language and hands of British Naval Ships MS VII.2.77. Samantha McKenzie, head librarian of the Southern Region Central Collegiate Library Special Collections and Microfilms Department where British Naval Ships MS VII.2.77 currently resides, not only provided colour images of the manuscript overnight, but unexpectedly shared the invaluable information on the book that she has been gathering for almost twenty years. I am also grateful for the insightful comments offered by the anonymous peer reviewers at Books & Texts. The generosity and expertise of one and all have improved this study in innumerable ways and saved me from many errors; those that inevitably remain are entirely my own responsibility.

Studying British Naval Ships MS VII.2.77 has proved extremely costly and I am most thankful for the Western University Doctoral Fellowship that has provided financial support for the larger project from which this paper grew. A travel grant from the Literary Society of the Southern Region turned the hope of working in person with British Naval Ships MS VII.2.77 into a reality, and the generous offer of free accommodation from Ms McKay (Samantha McKenzie’s aunt) allowed me to continue my research with the book much longer than I could have hoped. The final design of the complicated transcription tables in Appendices I–III is the creative and technical work of Sam Stone at A+AcaSciTables.com, and the language and format of the paper have benefited enormously from the academic editing services of Veronica Perfect. Finally, it is with true pleasure that I acknowledge the contributions of my amazing partner, Kendric James, who has given up many a Friday evening and Sunday afternoon to read every version of this paper and the responses it has generated with a combination of compassion and criticism that only he could muster for what he fondly calls ‘my odd obsession with books about the sea.’

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Acknowledgments and References

Acknowledgments.

This usually follows the Discussion and Conclusions sections. Its purpose is to thank all of the people who helped with the research but did not qualify for authorship (check the target journal’s Instructions for Authors for authorship guidelines). Acknowledge anyone who provided intellectual assistance, technical help (including with writing and editing), or special equipment or materials.

TIP: The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors has detailed guidelines on who to list as an author and who to include in the Acknowledgments that are useful for scientists in all fields.

Some journals request that you use this section to provide information about funding by including specific grant numbers and titles. Check your target journal’s instruction for authors for specific instructions. If you need to include funding information, list the name(s) of the funding organization(s) in full, and identify which authors received funding for what.

As references have an important role in many parts of a manuscript, failure to sufficiently cite other work can reduce your chances of being published. Every statement of fact or description of previous findings requires a supporting reference.

TIP: Be sure to cite publications whose results disagree with yours. Not citing conflicting work will make readers wonder whether you are really familiar with the research literature. Citing conflicting work is also a chance to explain why you think your results are different.

It is also important to be concise. You need to meet all the above needs without overwhelming the reader with too many references—only the most relevant and recent articles need to be cited. There is no correct number of references for a manuscript, but be sure to check the journal’s guidelines to see whether it has limits on numbers of references.

TIP: Never cite a publication based on what you have read in a different publication (such as a review), or based only on the publication’s abstract. These may mislead you and readers. Read the publication itself before you cite it, and then check the accuracy of the citation again before submitting your manuscript.

You should reference other work to:

• Establish the origin of ideas

When you refer to an idea or theory, it is important to let your readers know which researcher(s) came up with the idea. By citing publications that have influenced your own work, you give credit to the authors and help others evaluate the importance of particular publications. Acknowledging others’ contributions is also an important ethical principle.

• Justify claims

In a scientific manuscript, all statements must be supported with evidence. This evidence can come from the results of the current research, common knowledge, or from previous publications. A citation after a claim makes it clear which previous study supports the claim.

• Provide a context for your work

By highlighting related works, citations help show how a manuscript fits into the bigger picture of scientific research. When readers understand what previous studies found and what puzzles or controversies your study relates to, they will better understand the meaning of your work.

• Show there is interest your field of research

Citations show that other researchers are performing work similar to your own. Having current citations will help journal editors see that there is a potential audience for your manuscript.

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• Acknowledgements for PhD Thesis and Dissertations – Explained
• Doing a PhD

The Purpose of Acknowledgements

The acknowledgement section of a thesis or dissertation is where you recognise and thank those who supported you during your PhD. This can be but is not limited to individuals, institutions or organisations.

Although your acknowledgements will not be used to evaluate your work, it is still an important section of your thesis. This is because it can have a positive (or negative for that matter) influence the perception of your reader before they even reach the main body of your work.

Who Should I Acknowledge?

Acknowledgements for a PhD thesis will typically fall into one of two categories – professional or personal.

Within these categories, who you thank will ultimately be your decision. However, it’s imperative that you pay special attention to the ‘professional’ group. This is because not thanking someone who has played an important role in your studies, whether it be intentional or accidental, will more often than not be seen as a dismissal of their efforts. Not only would this be unfair if they genuinely helped you, but from a certain political aspect, it could also jeopardise any opportunities for future collaborations .

Professional Acknowledgements

This may include, but is not limited to:

• Funding bodies/sponsorship providers
• Supervisors
• Research group and lab assistants
• Research participants
• Proofreaders

Personal Acknowledgements

• Key family members and friends
• Individuals who inspired you or directly influenced your academic journey
• Anyone else who has provided personal support that you would like to mention

It should be noted that certain universities have policies which state only those who have directly supported your work, such as supervisors and professors, should be included in your acknowledgements. Therefore, we strongly recommend that you read your university guidelines before writing this section of your thesis.

How to Write Acknowledgements for PhD Thesis

When producing this section, your writing style can be more informal compared to the rest of your thesis. This includes writing in first person and using more emotive language. Although in most cases you will have complete freedom in how you write this section of your thesis, it is still highly advisable to keep it professional. As mentioned earlier, this is largely because it will be one of the first things your assessors will read, and so it will help set the tone for the rest of your work.

In terms of its structure, acknowledgements are expected to be ordered in a manner that first recognises the most formal support before moving onto the less formal support. In most cases, this follows the same order that we have outlined in the ‘Who Should I Thank’ section.

When thanking professionals, always write out their full name and provide their title. This is because although you may be on a first-name basis with them, those who read your thesis will not. By providing full names and titles, not only do you help ensure clarity, but it could also indirectly contribute to the credibility of your thesis should the individual you’re thanking be well known within your field.

If you intend to include a list of people from one institution or organisation, it is best to list their names in alphabetical order. The exception to this is when a particular individual has been of significant assistance; here, it would be advisable to list them.

How Long Should My Acknowledgements Be?

Acknowledgements vary considerably in length. Some are a single paragraph whilst some continue for up to three pages. The length of your acknowledgement page will mostly depend on the number of individuals you want to recognise.

As a general rule, try to keep your acknowledgements section to a single page. Although there are no word limits, creating a lengthy acknowledgements section dilutes the gratitude you’re trying to express, especially to those who have supported you the most.

Where Should My Acknowledgements Go?

In the vast majority of cases, your acknowledgements should appear directly after your abstract and before your table of contents.

However, we highly advise you to check your university guidelines as a few universities set out their own specific order which they will expect you to follow.

Phrases to Help You Get Started

We appreciate how difficult it can be to truly show how grateful you are to those who have supported you over the years, especially in words.

To help you get started, we’ve provided you with a few examples of sentences that you can complete or draw ideas from.

• I am deeply grateful to XXX…
• I would like to express my sincere gratitude to XXX…
• I would like to offer my special thanks to XXX…
• I would like to extend my sincere thanks to XXX…
• …for their assistance at every stage of the research project.
• …for their insightful comments and suggestions.
• …for their contribution to XXX.
• …for their unwavering support and belief in me.

Thesis Acknowledgement Examples

Below are three PhD thesis acknowledgment samples from which you can draw inspiration. It should be noted that the following have been extracted from theses which are freely available in the public domain. Irrespective of this, references to any individual, department or university have been removed for the sake of privacy.

First and foremost I am extremely grateful to my supervisors, Prof. XXX and Dr. XXX for their invaluable advice, continuous support, and patience during my PhD study. Their immense knowledge and plentiful experience have encouraged me in all the time of my academic research and daily life. I would also like to thank Dr. XXX and Dr. XXX for their technical support on my study. I would like to thank all the members in the XXX. It is their kind help and support that have made my study and life in the UK a wonderful time. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my parents, my wife and my children. Without their tremendous understanding and encouragement in the past few years, it would be impossible for me to complete my study.

I would like to thank my supervisors Dr. XXX and Dr. XXX for all their help and advice with this PhD. I would also like to thank my sisters, whom without this would have not been possible. I also appreciate all the support I received from the rest of my family. Lastly, I would like to thank the XXX for the studentship that allowed me to conduct this thesis.

I would like to thank my esteemed supervisor – Dr. XXX for his invaluable supervision, support and tutelage during the course of my PhD degree. My gratitude extends to the Faculty of XXX for the funding opportunity to undertake my studies at the Department of XXX, University of XXX. Additionally, I would like to express gratitude to Dr. XXX for her treasured support which was really influential in shaping my experiment methods and critiquing my results. I also thank Dr. XXX, Dr. XXX, Dr. XXX for their mentorship. I would like to thank my friends, lab mates, colleagues and research team – XXX, XXX, XXX, XXX for a cherished time spent together in the lab, and in social settings. My appreciation also goes out to my family and friends for their encouragement and support all through my studies.

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How to Write Acknowledgement in Research Paper

December 27, 2023

In research papers, acknowledgements play a crucial role in recognizing the contributions and support of individuals or organizations who have helped in the completion of the study. They provide an opportunity to express gratitude towards people who provided guidance, resources, or encouragement during the research process.

Acknowledgements serve several important purposes. Firstly, they acknowledge the intellectual and technical support received, ensuring that credit is given where it is due. Secondly, they foster a sense of collaboration and community by recognizing the efforts of others within the research field. Furthermore, acknowledgements help to establish credibility by showcasing the individuals, institutions, or funding bodies that have contributed to the research.

The importance of acknowledgements goes beyond mere courtesy; they are a record of the network of support that exists within the research community. By recognizing the contributions of others, researchers can foster goodwill and build lasting relationships in their field. As such, it is crucial to understand the significance of acknowledgements and to include them thoughtfully and sincerely in research papers.

What to Include in the Acknowledgements

When writing acknowledgements in a research paper, it is important to consider the key elements that should be included. Here are some points to consider when deciding what to include in your acknowledgements:

• Mentors and Advisors: Acknowledge the individuals who provided guidance, advice, or supervision throughout the research process. This could include your research advisor, committee members, or other mentors who played a significant role in shaping your work.
• Funding Sources: Acknowledge any funding bodies or organizations that provided financial support for your research. This could include grants, scholarships, or fellowships.
• Research Participants: If your study involved human participants or subjects, it is important to thank them for their participation and contribution to the research. Ensure that their privacy and confidentiality are maintained by using initials or codes instead of full names.
• Collaborators and Colleagues: If you worked closely with other researchers or colleagues on the project, acknowledge their contributions and highlight their specific roles or expertise.
• Technical and Administrative Support: Recognize individuals or institutions that provided technical assistance, equipment, or administrative support during the research process.
• Family and Friends: It is common to express gratitude to loved ones for their support and understanding throughout the research journey. Although personal acknowledgements should be kept brief, acknowledging their support can be a significant gesture.

Remember to be sincere and genuine in your acknowledgements, recognizing the specific contributions and support each individual or entity provided.

Structure and Formatting of the Acknowledgements

The structure and formatting of acknowledgements in a research paper play a vital role in conveying gratitude in a clear and organized manner. Here are some guidelines to follow when structuring and formatting your acknowledgements:

• Placement: The acknowledgements section is typically placed towards the end of the paper, after the conclusion but before the references.
• Title: Use a clear and concise title such as “Acknowledgements” or “Acknowledgments” at the top of the section to indicate its purpose.
• Formatting: In general, acknowledgements are written in paragraph form. However, if you have a long list of individuals or organizations to acknowledge, you can also use a bullet-point or numbered list.
• Tone: The tone of acknowledgements should be professional and appreciative. Use a sincere and heartfelt tone to express your gratitude.
• Length: Acknowledgements should be kept concise and to the point. A few paragraphs or a short list of names and institutions are typically sufficient.
• Order: It is customary to acknowledge individuals and organizations in order of their significance and contribution to the research. Start with your most important mentors, advisors, or sponsors, and then proceed to acknowledge collaborators, research participants, and others who provided support.
• Style: Follow the formatting guidelines specified by the journal or academic institution. This may include font type, size, and spacing.

Remember, while acknowledgements provide an opportunity to express gratitude, it is important to maintain professionalism and adhere to the guidelines set by the journal or your academic institution.

Examples of Well-Written Acknowledgements

Example 1: “I would like to express my deepest gratitude to Professor [Name] for their unwavering guidance, invaluable insights, and constant support throughout this research journey. Their expertise and dedication have been instrumental in shaping this study. I would also like to thank my research committee members, [Names], for their thoughtful feedback and constructive criticism. I am grateful to [Funding Body/Institution] for providing financial support that made this research possible. Special thanks to all the participants who generously volunteered their time and contributed to this study. I would also like to acknowledge [Support Staff/Technicians] for their technical assistance. Lastly, I am indebted to my family and friends for their unwavering support, love, and encouragement throughout this endeavor.”

Example 2: “We extend our sincere appreciation to Professor [Name] for their mentorship and guidance, which have been invaluable in the completion of this research. We would like to thank [Funding Body/Institution] for their financial support, without which this study would not have been possible. We are grateful to the participants who willingly shared their experiences and expertise, providing the foundation for our research. Our gratitude also extends to our collaborators and fellow researchers who provided valuable insights and feedback throughout the project. We would like to acknowledge the technical support provided by [Support Staff/Technicians]. Lastly, we express our heartfelt thanks to our families and friends for their unwavering support and understanding.”

Remember, these examples are just a guide. It is important to personalize your acknowledgements based on the individuals and organizations that have contributed to your specific research project.

Tips for Writing Acknowledgements

• Be specific: Clearly mention the names of individuals, institutions, or organizations that have made significant contributions to your research.
• Focus on contributions: Acknowledge the specific ways in which each person or entity has contributed to your research, whether it’s through mentorship, funding, technical support, or intellectual guidance.
• Maintain professionalism: While expressing gratitude, maintain a professional tone and avoid overly personal or informal language.
• Be concise: Keep your acknowledgements brief and to the point, focusing on the most essential contributors.
• Follow guidelines: Adhere to any specific formatting guidelines provided by the journal or academic institution.
• Review and proofread: Ensure that your acknowledgements are free of spelling or grammatical errors by reviewing and proofreading them carefully.
• Express sincerity: Convey genuine appreciation and gratitude in your acknowledgements to show the true extent of your appreciation.

Remember, acknowledgements are an opportunity to show gratitude to those who have supported your research, so be sure to express your thanks sincerely and respectfully.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Acknowledgements

• Excessive length: Avoid making your acknowledgements overly lengthy. Keep them concise and focus only on those who have made substantial contributions to your research.
• Forgetting important contributors: Take the time to think through all the individuals and organizations that have played a role in your research and ensure that you acknowledge them appropriately. Leaving out key contributors can be unintentionally dismissive.
• Being vague: Be specific when acknowledging the contributions of individuals or institutions. Avoid using generic statements that don’t adequately highlight the specific ways in which they have supported your research.
• Inclusion of personal anecdotes: While it’s important to express gratitude, acknowledgements should remain professional. Avoid including personal anecdotes or unrelated stories that distract from the purpose of the section.
• Neglecting proofreading: Treat acknowledgements with the same level of attention and care as the rest of your research paper. Proofread for spelling and grammatical errors before submitting your final document.
• Inconsistent formatting: Ensure that your acknowledgements follow the same formatting as the rest of your research paper, adhering to any journal or institution guidelines.

By avoiding these common mistakes, you can ensure that your acknowledgements accurately reflect the contributions of those involved in your research while maintaining a professional and concise tone.

Struggling with your research paper’s acknowledgement section? Our auto essay writer can make it easy, guiding you to express your gratitude flawlessly.

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Acknowledgement Examples

Examples of Acknowledgement for Project, Thesis and Assignments

Acknowledgement For Research Paper

Acknowledgement is the process of formally recognizing someone’s effort and thanking them for it. When it comes to research papers, acknowledgements are a way of giving credit where credit is due. They can be a great way to show your appreciation for all the help and support you’ve received while writing your paper.

If you’re wondering how to write acknowledgement for research paper, you’re in luck. In this article, I’ll be providing examples of acknowledgements for research paper.

Acknowledgement Writing Tips For Research Paper

It is always nice to be able to look back on a research project and see all of the people who made it possible. Acknowledgements are one way to do that.

Here are some tips for writing acknowledgements for research papers:

First, make sure to include all of the people who directly helped with your research. This includes your supervisor, research assistants, and anyone else who played a role in your project.

Second, don’t forget to acknowledgements the financial support that made your research possible. This could include funding from your university, government grants, or private donors.

Third, you can also use your acknowledgement to thank anyone who provided moral support during your project. This could include family, friends, or fellow researchers.

Fourth, if you want to, you can also use your acknowledgement to thank the people who inspired your research. This could be other researchers, writers, or public figures.

Finally, make sure to proofread your acknowledgement carefully before you publish it. You don’t want to accidentally leave anyone out!

Other Acknowledgement Article: 

• Acknowledgement For Social Science Project
• Acknowledgement For It Project
• Acknowledgement For Account Project

Acknowledgement Examples For Research Paper

There are many different ways to write an acknowledgement for a research paper, and the best way to do it will vary depending on the project and the circumstances. However, some elements are common to most acknowledgements, such as thankfulness to supervisors, colleagues, and co-authors. Acknowledgements can also be a good way to signal the end of a research project.

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How to Write an Acknowledgement for a Research Paper

Hey guys, Phill Collins here! Today, I will teach you how to write an acknowledgment section in a research paper. Let’s do this!

Acknowledging contributions is a crucial aspect of creating a thorough research paper. It provides an opportunity to convey appreciation and acknowledge the support from individuals and institutions throughout your work. This piece will explore the intricacies of crafting acknowledgments for papers, offering valuable insights, practical advice, and sample acknowledgments. It aims to assist you in expressing gratitude to those who have played a substantial role in your research journey. As usual, I recommend those of you who struggle with your writings to pay for a research paper to save time and have a stress-free evening.

What Is Acknowledgement in a Research Paper

Acknowledgment in a research paper is a section dedicated to expressing gratitude and recognizing the individuals, institutions, or resources that have contributed to the completion of the research. This section is an opportunity for the author to appreciate the support, guidance, or assistance received during the research process. Acknowledgments go beyond the academic content of the paper and serve as a personal and professional gesture of recognition for those who played a significant role in the research endeavor.

In this section, researchers typically acknowledge the contributions of mentors, advisors, colleagues, or peers who provided valuable insights, feedback, or assistance in shaping the research project. Additionally, institutions, funding agencies, or organizations that supported the research financially or through resources may be acknowledged. The acknowledgment section reflects the collaborative and communal nature of academic work, highlighting the interconnected web of individuals and entities that contribute to the scholarly pursuit.

While there is no strict format for writing acknowledgments, it is important to balance professionalism and sincerity. Authors can use this space to express genuine gratitude, share personal reflections on the collaborative process, and convey the impact of the support received. The acknowledgment section adds a human touch to the paper, recognizing the collective effort that goes into the creation of academic knowledge.

The Role of an Acknowledgment in a Research Papers

The acknowledgment section in a paper plays a vital role in recognizing and appreciating the various contributors and influences that have shaped the research journey. Beyond the academic rigor captured in the main body of the paper, acknowledgments offer a space to express gratitude for the support and guidance received during the research process. This section often serves as a heartfelt acknowledgment of the collaborative effort to bring a research project to fruition.

Essentials of an Acknowledgement in Research Paper

An essential component of a complex paper, the acknowledgment section serves as a heartfelt expression of gratitude towards individuals and entities who have contributed significantly to the research process. In this section, authors typically recognize mentors, advisors, colleagues, and peers who provided valuable insights, guidance, or support. Additionally, institutions, funding sources, or organizations that played a role in the research project are acknowledged. The acknowledgment is a personal touch within the scholarly document, acknowledging the collaborative nature of academic work and underscoring the importance of communal support in the research journey. It adds a human element to the paper, recognizing the interconnected network of individuals and resources that contribute to the scholarly endeavor.

How to Write an Acknowledgement for Research Paper Using 8 Simple Tips

Keep in mind that acknowledgments offer a chance to express gratitude and acknowledge the valuable contributions of those who assisted you. Dedicate time to creating a genuine and thoughtful acknowledgment section that mirrors the collaborative and supportive nature of your research endeavor.

Sincerity and Authenticity

Write your acknowledgments with heartfelt gratitude, conveying genuine appreciation for the support and contributions you received throughout your research journey.

Specific Individuals and Institutions

Identify key figures and entities that played a substantial role in your research, including mentors, advisors, collaborators, and funding agencies. Acknowledge institutions that provided resources or facilities.

Conciseness and Focus

Keep your acknowledgments brief and to the point. Concentrate on highlighting the pivotal individuals and organizations that significantly influenced your research.

Formal Tone

Maintain a professional and formal tone throughout your acknowledgments. Remember that this section serves as a formal recognition of support, not a casual conversation.

Ethical Considerations

Adhere to ethical guidelines and norms when acknowledging individuals and organizations. Respect the privacy and confidentiality of those who may prefer not to be mentioned.

Personal Touches

If appropriate, include personal anecdotes or specific instances where individuals or organizations made a noteworthy impact on your research.

Tailor to Research Context

Consider the nature of your research and customize your acknowledgments accordingly. For instance, if your research is interdisciplinary, recognize experts from various fields who provide valuable insights.

Appreciation Beyond Formal Requirements

While an acknowledgement in research paper has to list individuals and institutions, extend your appreciation to others who indirectly supported you. This may include family, friends, or colleagues who provided emotional support during your research journey.

Example of Acknowledgement in Research Paper

An Additional Example of Acknowledgement in Research Paper

Final Words

In my opinion, acknowledgements in a research paper provide an avenue to convey appreciation and recognize the indispensable contributions of individuals and institutions that have bolstered your work. In this article, I did my best to offer tips and a sample acknowledgment to assist you in authentically expressing your gratitude. Keep in mind that acknowledgments are a chance to genuinely convey appreciation and attribute credit where it is rightfully due.

How to write acknowledgement in research paper?

Begin your acknowledgment section with a formal salutation, expressing gratitude to those who contributed to your research. Use a sincere and appreciative tone, mentioning specific individuals and institutions, and keep it concise.

What is the purpose of the acknowledgement section in a research paper?

The acknowledgment section serves to express gratitude and recognize the contributions of individuals and institutions who supported the research. It reflects the researcher's appreciation for guidance, resources, and collaboration during the project.

What should the acknowledgement section of a research paper include?

An acknowledgement for research paper includes thanks to advisors, committee members, funding agencies, collaborators, institutions providing resources, and anyone who significantly contributed. Maintain a formal tone, adhere to ethical considerations, and, if appropriate, add a personal touch or anecdotes.

How to acknowledge someone in a research paper?

Acknowledge individuals by mentioning their names, roles, and specific contributions. Follow a formal and respectful tone, adhering to ethical guidelines. If applicable, express personal appreciation and consider tailoring acknowledgments to the nature of the research and relationships involved.

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Dissertation acknowledgments [with examples]

What are dissertation acknowledgements?

What to consider when writing your dissertation acknowledgments, who to thank in your dissertation acknowledgments, what (and what not) to write in your dissertation acknowledgments, good examples of dissertation acknowledgments, a final word on writing dissertation acknowledgments: have fun, frequently asked questions about dissertation acknowledgments, related articles.

While you may be the sole author of your dissertation, there are lots of people who help you through the process—from your formal dissertation advisors to the friends who may have cooked meals so that you could finish your last chapter . Dissertation acknowledgments are a chance to thank everyone who had a hand in the completion of your project.

Dissertation acknowledgments are a brief statement of your gratitude to advisors, professors, peers, family, and friends for their help and expertise.

In this guide, we’ll cover:

• the most important things to consider when you’re writing your dissertation acknowledgments
• who to thank in your dissertation acknowledgments
• what (and what not) to write in your dissertation acknowledgments
• short examples of dissertation acknowledgments

Once you’re at the stage where you’re writing your dissertation acknowledgments, you may be tempted to kick back and relax. After all, the hard part of writing the dissertation itself is over and a list of thanks should be simple to churn out.

However, the acknowledgments are an important part of your overall work and are something that most people who read your dissertation, including prospective employers, will look at.

Tip: The best dissertation acknowledgements are concise, sincere, and memorable.

Approach this part of the process, brief as it may be compared to the long haul of writing the dissertation, with the same high level of care and attention to detail. It’s an explicit and permanent statement of who made a real impact on your work and contributed to your academic success.

Plus, the people you thank are often deeply moved by being included—some even go so far as to frame the acknowledgments. Aim to make yours sincere, memorable and something that people will be touched by.

First things first: who should you include in your dissertation acknowledgments? If you’re not sure who to thank, try the brainstorming technique to generate some ideas. Consider these two approaches:

• Make a list of everyone, both professional and personal, who was involved at any point during your work on your dissertation, and then thin down the list from there.
• Make a list of the pivotal aspects of your process and think about who was involved and how they helped.

As you select the people and groups to include in your dissertation acknowledgments, keep in mind that it’s essential to acknowledge your supervisor and anyone else with a visible connection to your work.

It’s an unfortunate reality that not every supervisor goes above and beyond to provide feedback and guidance to the students they are supposed to supervise. However, leaving them out, even if you personally felt disappointed by their involvement or lack thereof, could be seen as a snub.

You should end up with a fairly short list of people to thank. While being mindful of professional etiquette and personal feelings, be choosy about who makes the final cut since your acknowledgments should be limited to no more than a page.

Now that you have your list of people and groups to thank, it’s time to start writing. Before your first pen or keystroke, however, check your university’s guidelines as your institution may have specific rules around what can and cannot be included.

The standard practice is to begin with the formal and then progress to the informal, so the first people to mention would be:

• supervisors
• committee members
• other professional contacts

Use their full names and titles and go into brief detail about how they contributed to your work.

Once those are done, you can move on to the personal thanks, which can include friends, family, even pets. If you are so inclined, it is also considered appropriate to thank God or make mention of spiritual support.

You may also choose to inject a little humor at this point, but don’t get carried away and definitely don’t include sarcasm or critical comments of any kind, including self-critical ones. Remember that the acknowledgments precede your dissertation, so you want to be taken seriously.

A couple more basics that are essential when creating your acknowledgments:

• Position: Acknowledgments should be placed after the title page and before the abstract.
• Perspective: Write from the first-person perspective and speak in your own voice.

A really good way to get a sense of how to write your own dissertation acknowledgments is to read ones written by others. Notice which ones you respond particularly well to and use them as a model upon which to base your own.

Here are some good examples to help you get started:

I couldn’t have reached this goal without the help of many people in my life. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank them for their support.

First, my sincere thanks to my dissertation committee. The value of their guidance cannot be overstated. Dr. Elaine Gooding and Dr. Matthew Hunter provided much wisdom that helped me chart my course. I couldn’t have asked for a better supervisor than Dr. Fiona Moore, whose knowledge and experience guided me every step of the way.

Next, I’d like to thank my partner, Elliott. Your votes of confidence kept me going when my spirits dipped. I couldn’t have done this without you.

Last but not least, I’d like to acknowledge the emotional support provided by my family and friends. We made it to the top of the mountain! I look forward to celebrating with all of you.

This example is shorter, but still contains the key components:

Several people played a decisive role in my success and I would like to take this opportunity to thank them.

My chair, Dr. Ronald Saulk, provided invaluable support and infinite patience and I am truly grateful for all of his wisdom and guidance. I also owe the entire staff of the Wilhelm Library a debt of gratitude. From tracking down books and arranging for interlibrary loans to keeping the coffee maker in the lobby well-stocked and in good working order, they offered the practical help and kind gestures that made all the difference.

I’d also like to thank my family and God, for always being there for me.

One final piece of advice: enjoy this process. Writing a dissertation doesn’t happen every day, and the opportunity to acknowledge the important people in your life in a published format is as rare as it is wonderful.

What’s more, this part of your dissertation is unlike any other. It’s unbounded by the conventions that apply to the formal work. It’s a chance to really flex some creative muscle and let your personality shine through. So make the most of it and have fun!

In your dissertation acknowledgments, you thank everyone who has contributed to your work or supported you along the way. Who you want to thank is a very personal choice, but you should include your supervisors and anyone else with a visible connection to your work. You may also thank friends, family, and partners.

First, you need to come up with a list of people you want to thank in your dissertation acknowledgments. As a next step, begin with the formal and then progress to the informal, so the first people to mention would be supervisors, mentors, committees, and other professional contacts. Then, you can move on to the personal thanks, which can include friends, family, even pets.

Who you acknowledge in your dissertation is ultimately up to you. You should, however, thank your supervisor and anyone else with a visible connection to your work. Leaving them out, even if you personally felt disappointed by their involvement or lack thereof, could be seen as a snub. In addition, you can thank friends, partners or family.

There are many ways so you can acknowledge your dissertation supervisor. Some examples can be found in this article above. If you need more examples, you can find them here .

While acknowledgments are usually more present in academic theses, they can also be a part of research papers. In academic theses, acknowledgments are usually found at the beginning, somewhere between abstract and introduction. In research papers, acknowledgments are usually found at the end of the paper.

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• Thesis & Dissertation Acknowledgements | Tips & Examples

Thesis & Dissertation Acknowledgements | Tips & Examples

Published on 4 May 2022 by Tegan George . Revised on 4 November 2022.

The acknowledgements section is your opportunity to thank those who have helped and supported you personally and professionally during your thesis or dissertation process.

Thesis or dissertation acknowledgements appear between your title page and abstract  and should be no longer than one page.

In your acknowledgements, it’s okay to use a more informal style than is usually permitted in academic writing , as well as first-person pronouns . Acknowledgements are not considered part of the academic work itself, but rather your chance to write something more personal.

To get started, download our step-by-step template in the format of your choice below. We’ve also included sample sentence starters to help you construct your acknowledgments section from scratch.

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Table of contents

Who to thank in your acknowledgements, how to write acknowledgements, acknowledgements section example, acknowledgements dos and don’ts, frequently asked questions.

Generally, there are two main categories of acknowledgements: professional and personal .

A good first step is to check your university’s guidelines, as they may have rules or preferences about the order, phrasing, or layout of acknowledgements. Some institutions prefer that you keep your acknowledgements strictly professional.

Regardless, it’s usually a good idea to place professional acknowledgements first, followed by any personal ones. You can then proceed by ranking who you’d like to thank from most formal to least.

• Chairs, supervisors, or defence committees
• Funding bodies
• Other academics (e.g., colleagues or cohort members)
• Editors or proofreaders
• Librarians, research/laboratory assistants, or study participants
• Family, friends, or pets

Typically, it’s only necessary to mention people who directly supported you during your thesis or dissertation. However, if you feel that someone like a secondary school physics teacher was a great inspiration on the path to your current research, feel free to include them as well.

Professional acknowledgements

It is crucial to avoid overlooking anyone who helped you professionally as you completed your thesis or dissertation. As a rule of thumb, anyone who directly contributed to your research should be mentioned.

A few things to keep in mind include:

• Even if you feel your chair didn’t help you very much, you should still thank them first to avoid looking like you’re snubbing them.
• Be sure to follow academic conventions, using full names with titles where appropriate.
• If several members of a group or organisation assisted you, mention the collective name only.
• Remember the ethical considerations around anonymised data. If you wish to protect someone’s privacy, use only their first name or a generic identifier (such as ‘the interviewees’).

Personal acknowledgements

There is no need to mention every member of your family or friend group. However, if someone was particularly inspiring or supportive, you may wish to mention them specifically. Many people choose to thank parents, partners, children, friends, and even pets, but you can mention anyone who offered moral support or encouragement, or helped you in a tangible or intangible way.

Some students may wish to dedicate their dissertation to a deceased influential person in their personal life. In this case, it’s okay to mention them first, before any professional acknowledgements.

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After you’ve compiled a list of who you’d like to thank, you can then sort your list into rank order. Separate everyone you listed into ‘major thanks’, ‘big thanks’, and ‘minor thanks’ categories.

• ‘Major thanks’ are given to people who your project would be impossible without. These are often predominantly professional acknowledgements, such as your advisor , chair, and committee, as well as any funders.
• ‘Big thanks’ are an in-between, for those who helped you along the way or helped you grow intellectually, such as classmates, peers, or librarians.
• ‘Minor thanks’ can be a catch-all for everyone else, especially those who offered moral support or encouragement. This can include personal acknowledgements, such as parents, partners, children, friends, or even pets.

How to phrase your acknowledgements

To avoid acknowledgements that sound repetitive or dull, consider changing up your phrasing. Here are some examples of common sentence starters you can use for each category.

Note that you do not need to write any sort of conclusion or summary at the end. You can simply end the acknowledgements with your last thank-you.

Here’s an example of how you can combine the different sentences to write your acknowledgements.

A simple construction consists of a sentence starter (in purple highlight ), followed by the person or entity mentioned (in green highlight ), followed by what you’re thanking them for (in yellow highlight .)

Acknowledgements

Words cannot express my gratitude to my professor and chair of my committee for her invaluable patience and feedback. I also could not have undertaken this journey without my defense committee, who generously provided knowledge and expertise. Additionally, this endeavor would not have been possible without the generous support from the MacArthur Foundation, who financed my research .

I am also grateful to my classmates and cohort members, especially my office mates, for their editing help, late-night feedback sessions, and moral support. Thanks should also go to the librarians, research assistants, and study participants from the university, who impacted and inspired me.

Lastly, I would be remiss in not mentioning my family, especially my parents, spouse, and children. Their belief in me has kept my spirits and motivation high during this process. I would also like to thank my cat for all the entertainment and emotional support.

• Write in first-person, professional language
• Thank your professional contacts first
• Include full names, titles, and roles of professional acknowledgements
• Include personal or intangible supporters, like friends, family, or even pets
• Mention funding bodies and what they funded
• Appropriately anonymise or group research participants or non-individual acknowledgments

Don’t:

• Use informal language or slang
• Go over one page in length
• Mention people who had only a peripheral or minor impact on your work

You may acknowledge God in your thesis or dissertation acknowledgements , but be sure to follow academic convention by also thanking the relevant members of academia, as well as family, colleagues, and friends who helped you.

Yes, it’s important to thank your supervisor(s) in the acknowledgements section of your thesis or dissertation .

Even if you feel your supervisor did not contribute greatly to the final product, you still should acknowledge them, if only for a very brief thank you. If you do not include your supervisor, it may be seen as a snub.

In the acknowledgements of your thesis or dissertation, you should first thank those who helped you academically or professionally, such as your supervisor, funders, and other academics.

Then you can include personal thanks to friends, family members, or anyone else who supported you during the process.

The acknowledgements are generally included at the very beginning of your thesis or dissertation, directly after the title page and before the abstract .

In a thesis or dissertation, the acknowledgements should usually be no longer than one page. There is no minimum length.

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How to Draft the Acknowledgment Section of a Manuscript

What is the Purpose of the Acknowledgements Section in a Research Paper?

The acknowledgment section is an integral part of all academic research papers. It provides appropriate recognition to all contributors for their hard work. We discuss here,  the relevant guidelines for acknowledging contributors.

Defining Who Is Acknowledged

The acknowledgment section helps identify the contributors responsible for specific parts of the project. It can include:

• Non-authors (colleagues, friends, supervisor, etc.)
• Funding sources
• Editing services ,
• Administrative staff

In academic writing, the information presented in the acknowledgment section should be kept brief. It should only mention people directly involved with the project. In other words, one should not consider thanking ones’ parents for moral and financial support.

Acknowledging contributors is necessary. However, you must know the difference between an author and a contributor . The International Committee of Medical Journal Editors ( ICMJE ) defines four criteria to assign authorship.

He or she has to have

• Made substantial conceptual or design contributions or gathered and analyzed important data, and
• Either helped draft or critically revise the paper in keeping with important intellectual content, and
• Provided final approval before publishing, and
• Agreed to be accountable for the accuracy of the work

These authors and their affiliations will be listed at the beginning of the paper. The “corresponding author” will also be listed a second time and will directly correspond with the journal to ensure documentation requirements are met.

Many journals now ask that you provide the role of each author in your acknowledgment section. For example, a typical statement of authors’ contributions might be as follows (note that only last names are used unless ambiguous):

Smith conducted the data analysis and created the tables and figures. Jones provided his technological expertise for GIS tracking. Johnson provided a factual review and helped edit the manuscript.

This type of acknowledgment provides your reader with a good sense of who was responsible for each part of your research and manuscript.

Non-Author Contributors

There are many people involved in a research project who are not authors but have provided valuable contributions. For example, one person’s responsibility might be to seek project funding; another’s might be to supervise laboratory staff. A few others might have provided valuable services such as technical editing and writing or offering help in reviewing and revising the manuscript for grammar and syntax. These people should also be mentioned in the acknowledgment section of your manuscript.

Acknowledgment should also be provided  for  writing assistance, technical editing, language editing, and proofreading . Therefore, editing companies need to be duly acknowledged in professionally edited manuscripts as per the  ICMJE guidelines.

It is necessary to acknowledge editing companies in professionally edited manuscripts, even though these companies are paid for their work.

Acknowledgment Format

Unlike the main body of your paper, the format for your acknowledgment section can be more personal. It is permissible to use personal pronouns in this section. For example,

I thank the following individuals for their expertise and assistance throughout all aspects of our study and for their help in writing the manuscript.

Keep in mind that many guidelines indicate that funding sources be listed separately from the acknowledgment section. In addition, the sources (funding agencies) might have specific guidelines that you must follow. Please be sure to comply with these sources and your author guidelines.

For more information on authors and contributors , read articles on the Enago Academy website.

What types and formats of acknowledgments have you incorporated into your manuscripts? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. Do you need help with manuscript editing ? Make sure you visit enago.com today!

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Acknowledgement Letter

Get All Types Of Acknowledgement Samples.

How To Write Acknowledgement For Research Paper

Post by Ruben Patel Leave a Comment

If you are thinking about How To Write Acknowledgment For Research Paper then you have come to the right place.

An acknowledgement section in a research paper is a place where you can express your gratitude to the people who have helped you with your research. This could include anyone who has provided support , guidance , or assistance during the research process.

For example, you might thank your advisors or professors for their guidance, your colleagues for their collaboration, librarians, lab assistants or a funding agency for their financial support and anyone else who has contributed to your research.

It is common to include an acknowledgement section in the beginning of a research paper, usually after the abstract and before the main body of the paper. The acknowledgement should be brief and to the point, and it is generally written in a formal, professional tone. You should avoid using casual language or personal anecdotes in this section.

The purpose of an acknowledgement is to express your gratitude to the people who have helped you with your research. It is a way to show that you appreciate the support and contributions of others, and it is an opportunity to thank them for their assistance. By including an acknowledgement in your research paper, you demonstrate that you are grateful for the help and support you have received, and you recognize the role that others have played in your research.

Here are some tips for writing an acknowledgement for a research paper:

• Start by thanking the people who have directly supported your research, such as your advisors and colleagues.
• Mention any funding agencies or organizations that provided financial support for your research.
• If you received assistance from librarians or other research staff, be sure to thank them as well.
• If you received help from any other individuals, such as lab assistants or research participants, be sure to include them in your acknowledgement.
• Keep your acknowledgement brief and to the point. You don’t need to go into great detail about the contributions of each person you are thanking.
• Use a formal, professional tone in your acknowledgement. This is not the place for casual language or personal anecdotes.

Here are a few acknowledgement samples for your research paper –

Table of Contents

Acknowledgement For Research Paper Sample

We are deeply grateful to all those who contributed to the success of this research project.

First and foremost, we would like to thank our primary supervisor, [Name], for their guidance, support, and encouragement throughout the entire process. Their mentorship and expertise were invaluable in helping us to shape the direction of our research and to bring our ideas to fruition.

We would also like to express our gratitude to the members of our research team, [Names], who provided valuable input, insights, and assistance at every stage of the project. Their contributions were critical to the success of this research, and we are deeply grateful for their hard work and dedication.

We would also like to thank the organizations and individuals who provided financial support for this research, including [Name] and [Name]. Without their generous contributions, this project would not have been possible.

Finally, we would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of the participants in our study, who generously shared their time, experiences, and insights with us. Their willingness to engage with our research was essential to the success of this project, and we are deeply grateful for their participation.

Overall, this research project would not have been possible without the support and contributions of so many people. We are deeply grateful to all of those who helped to make this project a reality, and we hope that our findings will make a meaningful contribution to the field.

Read Also: Get 15+ Acknowledgement Samples

Sample Acknowledgement For Research Paper

The completion of this research project would not have been possible without the contributions and support of many individuals and organizations. We are deeply grateful to all those who played a role in the success of this project.

We would like to thank [Name] for their invaluable input and support throughout the research process. Their insights and expertise were instrumental in shaping the direction of this project.

In addition, we would like to extend our sincere thanks to all of the participants in our study, who generously shared their time, experiences, and insights with us. Their willingness to engage with our research was essential to the success of this project, and we are deeply grateful for their participation.

Small Acknowledgement Sample For Research Paper

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to our advisors, Dr. Spirt Kular and Dr. Sonney Deom, for their invaluable guidance and support throughout the research process. We also wish to thank the XYZ Foundation for their financial support, as well as the librarians at the ABC Library for their assistance in finding the necessary research materials. Finally, we are grateful to all of the research participants who generously gave their time and effort to this project.

You can take the help online paraphrasing tool when crafting an acknowledgment for a research paper. They help you manipulate the formal tone of your text according to your needs and make sure your text stays sincere and relevant.

Using the paraphrase tool , you can express specific appreciation for individual contributions that fit the unique context of the paper. Ultimately, you write an acknowledgment that is as personalized and meaningful as possible.

Note: It’s important to note that the specific language and tone of your acknowledgement will depend on the context and the nature of the contributions made by the individuals or organizations you are thanking. It’s a good idea to be specific and sincere in your appreciation, and to tailor your acknowledgement to the specific contributions that were made.

Conclusion On How To Write Acknowledgement For Research Paper

In conclusion, writing an acknowledgement for a research paper is a crucial step in recognizing the contributions of others to your work. It is a way to show gratitude to those who have provided assistance, support, and guidance throughout the research process. When writing an acknowledgement, it is important to be sincere and specific in thanking those who have helped you. Be sure to mention individuals by name, and specify their roles and contributions.

Additionally, make sure to follow any specific guidelines or requirements for formatting and presenting the acknowledgement in your research paper. By following these tips, you can effectively convey your appreciation and recognition of the help you received while completing your research.

Read Also: Master Thesis Acknowledgement Sample

FAQs On How To Write Acknowledgement For Research Paper

1) What is a good sentence for acknowledgement? Ans: “I appreciate your efforts in completing this project on time.” “I want to acknowledge the hard work and dedication you have shown during this challenging year.” “I am grateful for your support and understanding during this difficult time.” It’s important to note that the specific wording and tone of an acknowledgement will depend on the context and the relationship between the speaker and the person being acknowledged.

2) Is conclusion and acknowledgement same? Ans: The conclusion is the final part of a written work that summarizes the main points and arguments. Acknowledgement is the act of recognizing or thanking someone or something for their contribution. These two things are often used in different contexts and for different purposes.

3) Who should I include in my acknowledgement for a research paper? Ans: It is appropriate to include anyone who has contributed significantly to your research, such as a supervisor, mentor, or colleague. You may also want to thank any individuals or organizations that provided financial or logistical support.

4) How should I structure my acknowledgement for a research paper? Ans: The structure of your acknowledgement will depend on the specific guidelines of the journal or publication you are submitting to. In general, it is common to include a brief paragraph at the beginning of the paper expressing your gratitude to those who have helped with the research. You can then list the names of the individuals or organizations you are thanking, along with a brief description of their contributions.

5) Is it necessary to include an acknowledgement in my research paper? Ans: It is not always required to include an acknowledgement in a research paper, but it is a common practice and can be a good way to show appreciation for the help and support you received during the research process.

6) Can I include personal thanks in my acknowledgement for a research paper? Ans: It is generally acceptable to include personal thanks in your acknowledgement, as long as it is done in a professional and respectful manner. You may want to thank family members or friends who provided emotional support during the research process, but be mindful of maintaining a professional tone and not going into too much detail about personal matters.

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Acknowledgments in Scientific Papers

• Published: 07 July 2023
• Volume 39 , pages 280–299, ( 2023 )

Cite this article

• Jaime A. Teixeira da Silva 1 ,
• Panagiotis Tsigaris 2 &
• Quan-Hoang Vuong 3  

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Acknowledgements are usually a minor part of scientific papers, but they serve a very important function. This section of the manuscript is normally reserved to thank those who offered assistance, but not enough to merit authorship, funders, or any other people or organizations or artificial intelligent tools that may have in any way been directly associated either with the research reported in that study, or with the published paper. Despite this, it is not uncommon to see wide disparities in ethics and author guidelines pertaining to acknowledgements, as was observed in 45 publishing-related entities (journals, publishers, preprints, ethics organizations, open access aggregators) that were assessed in this study. Greater standardization is required, especially among members of ethics policy groups such as the Committee on Publication Ethics or the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. Moreover, even though verification is an essential step of this process, it is difficult to achieve.

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“Big Science” refer to mega-projects involving very large collaborative interdisciplinary teams with moments in history of great exploration such as the Human Genome Project, the Large Hardon Collider and NASA’s international space station, to name a few. A physics paper about the Large Hardon Collider had 5154 authors [ 4 ], a classic case of hyper-authorship [ 5 ]. If those being acknowledged are seen as collaborators in research output, which they should be, then the lone wolf scholar is indeed an endangered species [ 6 , 7 ].

Cronin on page 19 states: “Who is to say whether the least significant co-author’s contributions were greater or less than those of the most helpful acknowledge?”.

In science research, there is strong evidence of division of work. Active participation to earn authorship is associated with one or more of the following tasks: analyzing the data, conceiving and designing the experiments, contributing to reagents, material and/or analysis tools, performing the experiment, and writing the paper [ 19 ]. Lack of contributorship statements reflect a lack of transparency and accountability according to Larivière et al. [ 19 ].

Some of these concepts were inferred by Cronin et al. [ 20 ], who indicated that one individual was named in 25 acknowledgements in Psychological Review , while three editors were also frequently acknowledged, the most frequent being in 20 papers. Cronin [ 3 ] highlighted multiple studies that formally analyzed the acknowledgements in journals such as Cell or Genetics , finding them to be a complex mixture of influences (personal, field-based, historical), often laced with thanks for laboratory gifts, and the need and expectation of reciprocity.

Cronin’s opinion is debatable, can an acknowledged person really be more important than a co-author?

This is based on our experience, and a thorough meta-analysis would be required to assess if being acknowledged has rewards in academic institutes across the globe.

Cronin [ 3 ] stated: “In a reward system of the academy, a mere acknowledgement, no matter how influential the acknowledged intellectual contribution is perceived to be, is not treated as equivalent to even the lowest form of citation” (p. 24).

There is a further tier system within the order of appearance of authors’ names and contribution. Evidence from PLOS journals suggested a U-shaped relationship between the order of authors’ names and contribution levels in which the first and last authors’ contributions are greater than those in the middle [ 19 ].

At the end of the abstract they concluded: “more accurate documentation of funding sources in published articles would benefit researchers, funders and journals, and enhance the reliability and usefulness of funding acknowledgements.

https://publicationethics.org/members .

http://www.icmje.org/journals-following-the-icmje-recommendations/ .

https://www.stm-assoc.org/membership/our-members/ .

https://oaspa.org/membership/members/ .

https://doaj.org/sponsors .

Listed publishers were: American Chemical Society, American Institute of Physics, American Physical Society, Cambridge University Press, Emerald, IEEE, Institute of Physics, Karger, Nature Publishing Group, Optical Society of America, Oxford University Press, Reed-Elsevier, Royal Society of Chemistry, Sage Publications, Springer, Taylor & Francis, Thieme Publishing Group, Wiley-Blackwell, and Wolters Kluwer. In the Supplementary Table, Nature Research was considered separately to Springer Nature, even though they fall under the same publisher.

https://fairsharing.org/ .

For all these aspects, a comprehensive analysis of all journals within each publisher listed in the Supplementary Table would be needed in order to clearly quantify deviations from ICMJE recommendations.

The ICMJE lists journals that claim to follow its recommendations, but the veracity of entries on those lists have not been verified, nor can the scholarly nature of those journals be proved. Publishers are not listed. Since several of the publishers listed in the Supplementary Table have hundreds or even thousands of journals, it is humanly impossible to verify the number of journals that claim to follow ICMJE guidelines, but this analysis is necessary.

Since deviation among clauses were detected in journals, even within the same publisher, there is a high likelihood that a clause might exist for one or more journals in several of the publishers with large journal fleets.

Flexibility is not necessarily a good thing because it opens up exceptions to the rule, and allows authors to interpret clauses and rules differently. This issue becomes particularly important for authors who have their papers rejected in one journal/publisher with rule/clause A, and then resubmit to another journal of another publisher with a different rule/clause B.

“Despite five decades of analysis putting forward the potential value of acknowledgments as markers of scientific capital, the literature still lacks consensus as to the value and functions of acknowledgments within the reward system of science.” (p. 2821).

“Professional editors (e.g. medical writers) engaged to prepare scientific texts and graphics, or to put research findings into a form suitable for publication, are to be listed as authors if, by virtue of these activities, they influence the weight attached to the findings and the impact of the publication. If they are only responsible for purely linguistic and editorial improvements, they are not to be listed in the byline; it is appropriate to mention them in the Acknowledgements.” (p. 4).

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Panagiotis Tsigaris

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Quan-Hoang Vuong

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Teixeira da Silva, J.A., Tsigaris, P. & Vuong, QH. Acknowledgments in Scientific Papers. Pub Res Q 39 , 280–299 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12109-023-09955-z

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Thank you. payment completed., you will receive an email from us to confirm your registration, please click the link in the email to activate your account., there was error during payment, orcid profile found in public registry, download history, what to include in your acknowledgments section.

• Charlesworth Author Services
• 02 June, 2018
• Academic Writing Skills

Most academic papers have many people who have helped in some way in the preparation of the written version or the research itself. This could be someone from a sponsoring institution, a funding body, other researchers, or even family, friends or colleagues who have helped in the preparation. These people need to be mentioned in the Acknowledgments section of the paper.

Acknowledgments section in different academic documents

The Acknowledgments section is present in both a paper and an academic thesis . For papers, the Acknowledgments section is usually presented at the back, whereas in a thesis, this section is located towards the front of the manuscript and is commonly placed somewhere between the abstract and Introduction . However, the exact location varies between each university , as each establishment possesses its own style guide for theses and student submissions. So, it is always worthwhile consulting your university’s academic style guide before writing a manuscript for undergraduate/postgraduate submission.

Acknowledgments section in theses

For academic theses, there is no right or wrong way to acknowledge people, and who you want to acknowledge is down to personal preference. However, the common types of people authors acknowledge in their academic theses include:

• Supervisor’s contributions
• Research group (especially if the thesis in question is a master’s and the work is helped along by a PhD student)
• Support staff (laboratory technicians, etc.)
• Any students who undertook side projects with them (e.g. final year undergraduates, summer students, master’s students)
• Administrative staff (there can be a lot of bureaucracy for thesis submissions)
• Referees that got them onto the course (postgraduate only)
• Funding bodies
• Any collaboration with industry and the people they worked with at said establishment(s)

Acknowledgments section in journal papers

Now, whilst university manuscripts can include any combination of the above (including all and none in some cases), academic publications in journals more commonly acknowledge the same kind of people/organizations, but again it is up to the author(s) what they feel should be acknowledged; not every piece of help needs to be acknowledged, just the most useful/prevalent help. Also, acknowledgments should be written in the first person .

Examples of whom and what should be acknowledged in a journal publication are listed below:

• Direct technical help (e.g. supply of animal subjects, cells, equipment setup, methods , statistics/data manipulation, samples, chemicals/reagents, analytical/spectroscopy techniques)
• Indirect assistance (topical and intellectual discussions about the research which can lead to generation of new ideas)
• Affiliated institutions
• Grant numbers
• Who received the funding (if not the author, e.g. a supervisor)
• Any associated fellowships

Whom to acknowledge - and whom not to acknowledge

• Other authors/contributors : It is not common practice for the lead paper writer (i.e. the person writing and publishing the manuscript) to acknowledge the other authors/direct contributors to the paper. Only those who are not recognized as authors may be thanked and acknowledged.
• Reviewers : Authors are also not allowed to thank reviewers personally, or those who inspire them but cannot directly receive their appreciation – although reviewers can be thanked if they are kept anonymous .
• Friends and family : Unlike university manuscripts, journal manuscripts should not include help and guidance from family and friends.

Other acknowledgments

• Titles and institutions : Titles such as Mr, Mrs, Miss, etc. are not commonly included, but honorary titles such as Dr, Professor, etc. are. The institutions of the acknowledged people are usually mentioned.

For example, the following would not be acceptable:

We dedicate this work to the deceased Prof. Bloggs.

However, the following would be acceptable:

We acknowledge Prof. Bloggs for discovering the secret of anonymity.

Additional pointers for writing the Acknowledgments section

• The  tone  of the section should be in an active voice.
• Do not use pronouns indicating possession (i.e. his, her, their, etc.).
• Terms associated with specific companies should be written out in full, e.g. Limited, Corporation, etc.
• If the results have been published elsewhere, then this should also be acknowledged.
• Any abbreviations should be expanded unless the abbreviation appears in the main body of the text.

Below are examples of the Acknowledgments sections taken from a couple of papers from Nature Communications :

Duan L., Hope J., Ong Q., Lou H-Y., Kim N., McCarthy C., Acero V., Lin M., Cui B., Understanding CRY2 interactions for optical control of intracellular signalling, Nature Communications, 2017,  8:547

Xu Q., Jensen K., Boltyanskiy R., Safarti R., Style R., Dufresne E., Direct measurement of strain-dependent solid surface stress, Nature Communications, 2017,  8:555

Many people think that the Acknowledgments section of a manuscript is a trivial and unimportant component. However, it constitutes a vital means to ensure that all affiliated support for the paper can be duly and transparently mentioned. By acknowledging people for their efforts and contributions, you demonstrate your integrity as an academic researcher. In addition, crediting other people for their help can also increase their presence in the academic world and possibly help to boost their career as well as your own.

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Acknowledgements are not just thank you notes: A qualitative analysis of acknowledgements content in scientific articles and reviews published in 2015

Adèle paul-hus.

École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l'information, Université de Montréal, Downtown Station, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Nadine Desrochers

Associated data.

Restrictions apply to the availability of the acknowledgement data, which is used under license from Clarivate Analytics. Readers can contact Clarivate Analytics at the following URL: http://clarivate.com/scientific-and-academic-research/research-discovery/web-of-science/ . References for the acknowledgement excerpts used are available in S1 Table .

Acknowledgements in scientific articles can be described as miscellaneous, their content ranging from pre-formulated financial disclosure statements to personal testimonies of gratitude. To improve understanding of the context and various uses of expressions found in acknowledgements, this study analyses their content qualitatively. The most frequent noun phrases from a Web of Science acknowledgements corpus were analysed to generate 13 categories. When 3,754 acknowledgement sentences were manually coded into the categories, three distinct axes emerged: the contributions, the disclaimers, and the authorial voice. Acknowledgements constitute a space where authors can detail the division of labour within collaborators of a research project. Results also show the importance of disclaimers as part of the current scholarly communication apparatus, an aspect which was not highlighted by previous analyses and typologies of acknowledgements. Alongside formal disclaimers and acknowledgements of various contributions, there seems to remain a need for a more personal space where the authors can speak for themselves, in their own name, on matters they judge worth mentioning.

Introduction

The idea of using acknowledgements as a source for bibliometric indicators has been surrounding their study since the 1990s. In 1991, Cronin was already asking, “why are acknowledgement counts excluded from formal assessments of individual merit or influence, such as tenure review?” ([ 1 ]: p. 236). In 1995, Cronin and Weaver were encouraging the development of an Acknowledgement Index, based on the model of the Science Citation Index [ 2 ]. Almost two decades later, Costas and van Leeuwen [ 3 ] suggested that it was perhaps time “to employ this sort of tool to facilitate development of the so-called ‘influmetrics’” ([ 3 ]: p. 1659). For their part, Díaz-Faes and Bordons [ 4 ] highlighted that the inclusion of acknowledgement information in the Web of Science (WoS) was offering new avenues to study collaboration in science, going beyond traditional bibliometric indicators. McCain [ 5 ] went further and assessed the feasibility of a formal Personal Acknowledgements Index. And yet, despite decades of studies positioning acknowledgements alongside citations and authorship in what Cronin called the “reward triangle” [ 6 ], the consideration of acknowledgements as an indicator of scientific credit has not materialized and, at best, remains a proposal at the exploratory stage, or even simply a rhetorical idea (see [ 7 ] for a meta-synthesis of this literature).

At the same time, many studies have used funding-related indicators based on acknowledgement data (e.g. [ 8 – 11 ]). In fact, acknowledgement studies can no longer be separated from the financial aspect of scientific research. In 2008, WoS started to collect and index funding sources found in the acknowledgements of scientific papers. These new data were added by WoS in response to many funding bodies’ requirement to acknowledge the sources supporting research. Since then, large-scale acknowledgement data have been used as a bibliometric tool to follow the money trail of research and funding-related analyses have become a dominant trend in recent acknowledgement literature [ 7 ]. To this day, acknowledgements have been more closely related to funding indicators than to any other kind of scientific credit indicators.

The literature also underlines the elusive nature of acknowledgements, pointing to their form and tone, which have been described as sometimes flowery, personal, and even manipulative:

• Acknowledgements are permeated by hyperbole, effusiveness, overstatement, and exaggeration. ([ 12 ]: p. 64)
• Acknowledgements have been discussed as a form of patronage in scholarly communication, where the reality of the past may be purposefully glossed over and where the author could be looking toward the possibility of receiving future favours. ([ 13 ]: p. 4)

Furthermore, several studies mention the lack of standardization of acknowledgements as one important limitation hindering their analyses:

• The format of acknowledgement varies from field to field and from journal to journal. As noted, persons and institutional sources may be listed in the methods and materials section of an article or explicitly thanked in an acknowledgement section. ([ 14 ]: p. 506)
• Since there are no established formats for acknowledgements in papers, as there are for citations, expressions of gratitude vary greatly and sometimes it was difficult to identify the correct type of support, and even more difficult, the correct funding organization. ([ 15 ]: p. 238)
• The first source of simple error may arise through the misspelling of the names of funding bodies and potentially the names of grants and grant codes […]. A second difficulty will be that researchers will not correctly remember the funding bodies and grants that they used to support the research. ([ 16 ]: p. 368–369)

Acknowledgements may thus contain formally required statements of gratitude but have also been used as personal spaces of authorial expression, and as such, acknowledgement texts have been analysed as a genre per se. Several discourse and linguistic analyses have studied acknowledgements found in dissertations, theses, monographies, and research articles (e.g. [ 17 – 19 ]).

Acknowledgements analyses have also led to numerous typologies or classifications of the contributions acknowledged in scientific publications. In 1972, Mackintosh [ 20 ] proposed the first qualitative content analysis of acknowledgements based on a typology of the three main types of “services” acknowledged in scientific papers: facilities , access to data , and help of individuals . Twenty years later, McCain [ 14 ] offered a finer typology of acknowledgements, using five categories: access to research-related information , access to unpublished results and data , peer interactive communication , technical assistance , and manuscript preparation . The same year, Cronin introduced his first version of a six-part typology of acknowledgements ( paymaster , moral support , dogsbody , technical , prime mover , and trusted assessor ) which was created before encountering Mackintosh’s 1972 and McCain’s 1991 work [ 1 , 21 ]. Subsequent versions of this typology—developed with different collaborators through the years (namely McKenzie, Rubio and Weaver(-Wozniak))—include the peer interactive communication category borrowed from McCain [ 14 ] alongside moral support , access (to resources, materials and infrastructure), clerical support , technical support , and financial support [ 2 , 22 – 24 ]. Cronin’s model has since been adopted, adapted, and augmented in several studies (e.g. [ 25 – 30 ].

More recently, Giles and Councill [ 31 ] used natural language processing to extract named entities from more than 180,000 acknowledgements published in computer science research papers. In their content analysis, the most frequently acknowledged entities are classified into four categories: funding agencies , corporations , universities and individuals . Other studies have analysed the content of acknowledgements focusing on funding bodies and classifying them by sectors and subsectors (e.g. [ 10 , 32 – 35 ]).

Finally, linguistic studies have also used classifications of acknowledgements, focusing on the structure and patterns of dissertation acknowledgement texts (e.g. [ 18 , 36 – 40 ]) and on the socio-pragmatic construction of acknowledgements found in research articles and academic books [ 19 , 41 – 43 ].

Typologies and classifications aim to describe and categorize the content of acknowledgements in a synthetic manner. However, these taxonomies are based on small-scale samples of acknowledgements, the only exception being the work of Giles and Councill [ 31 ] which focused solely on named entities. More recently, a large-scale multidisciplinary analysis of acknowledgement texts was published by the authors and collaborators in PLOS One [ 44 ]. This analysis of acknowledgements from more than one million articles and reviews published in 2015, highlighted important variations in the practices of acknowledging. Focusing on the 214 most frequent noun phrases of that corpus, the study showed that acknowledgement practices truly do vary across disciplines. Noun phrases referring to technical support appeared more frequently in natural sciences while noun phrases related to peers (colleagues, editors and reviewers) were more frequent in earth and space, professional fields, and social sciences. Noun phrases referring to logistics and fieldwork-related tasks appeared prominently in biology. Pre-formulated statements used in the context of conflict of interest or responsibility disclosures were more frequently found in acknowledgements from clinical medicine, health, and psychology. However, this analysis also led to further questions concerning the interpretation of these noun phrases in their original context. Findings from this study showed that acknowledgements are not limited to credit attribution and that the numerous taxonomies and classifications found in the literature do not account for the current acknowledgement practices where pre-formulated statements of financial assistance and conflict of interest disclosures appear to be frequent [ 44 ]. Conclusions from this study raise further questions because these pre-formulated statements could have an influence on large-scale analyses that use automated linguistic methods, thus calling for a qualitative analysis of acknowledgements in the context of their use.

Objective and research questions

To improve understanding of the context and various uses of expressions found in acknowledgements, this study proposes to analyse their content qualitatively. More specifically, this study aims at answering the following research questions:

• In which contexts are specific expressions used?
• Do the contexts and meanings vary by discipline?
• What does a qualitative analysis reveal in terms of offering avenues for a more contextualized use of acknowledgements in large-scale studies?

Data and methods

Data for this study were retrieved from WoS’s Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-E) and Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), which both include funding acknowledgement data. It bears repeating that acknowledgments are collected and indexed by WoS only if they include funding source information [ 45 ]. Access to WoS data in a relational database format was provided by the Observatoire des sciences et des technologies ( http://www.ost.uqam.ca ). The full text of acknowledgements from all 2015 articles and reviews indexed in the SCI-E and the SSCI were extracted. The original corpus includes a total of 1,009,411 acknowledgements for as many papers.

In a previous analysis, we identified the 214 most frequent noun phrases of that corpus of acknowledgement using natural language processing [ 44 ]. For the purpose the present qualitative analysis, these 214 noun phrases were reduced to single words (e.g. “technical assistance” was reduced to “technical” and “assistance”) and redundant words were excluded, for a final corpus of 154 single words. Each single word could therefore be found in context, no matter its proximity to other single words; this offered us the possibility to code various types of occurrences of each word, whether it was part of a noun phrase or not.

The coding was done in two steps. First, an initial codebook was established inductively by one researcher to classify each of the 154 words and revised by a second researcher. All words were then coded by both researchers and their work was reconciled through “negotiated agreement” ([ 46 ]: p. 305, see also [ 47 , 48 ]). Second, 20 words were selected from the corpus of 154 words by purposeful sampling, where cases for study are selected because “they offer useful manifestations of the phenomenon of interest” ([ 49 ]: p. 40). Selection of the words included in the final sample was based on the quantitative analysis findings [ 44 ], which highlighted the potential importance of pre-formulated statements such as “The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript” (ut 000367510900041). Special attention was given to the words frequently used in those statements (e.g. analysis, collection, design, preparation). Sampling decisions were also oriented towards potential polysemous words which could lead to different contextual meanings (e.g. “assistance”). The 20 words of the final sample were coded within the context of their original sentences, extracted from acknowledgements. Words were thus used as a seed to refer back to full acknowledgement sentences.

The coding process entails data reduction where the many meanings of a sentence must be reduced or summarized under one main category [ 50 ] in order to reflect a practice or a phenomenon on a humanly manageable scale. The principles of saturation and qualitative sampling, whereby the sample is “conceptually representative of the set of all possible units” ([ 51 ]: p. 84), ensures that the phenomenon is reflected in its full complexity. Therefore, acknowledgements were stratified by discipline to reflect potentially different disciplinary uses of a word. Coding was then performed on this sample of 20 words within their original acknowledgement contexts, using the sentence as the unit of analysis and adapting the codebook in an iterative manner as finer meanings emerged.

The final codebook is composed of 13 categories, presented in Table 1 . The coding was done by one researcher and guided by the question, “in which context is this word used?” One category was selected for each sentence coded, aiming at qualifying the context in which a word is used. Each word of the sample was coded in a minimum of 15 original sentences per discipline, for all 12 disciplines, resulting in a total of 3,754 sentences coded. Results are reported in “thick description” using sufficient descriptions and quotations to allow “thick interpretation”, which means connecting individual cases to the larger context without going into trivial details ([ 49 ]: p. 503).

The results of the coding process are summarized in Table 2 which presents, for each word of the sample, the percentage of all the occurrences attributed to a specific category. The analysis reveals the importance of three distinct axes: the contributions, the disclaimers, and the authorial voice. Moreover, disciplinary patterns bring another layer of analysis as divergent uses of the coded words emerge.

Words are presented in the table in descending order of their frequency in the corpus.

* “Other” regroups the following categories: Supervision and Management, Combination, and Vague or other.

Contributions

Acknowledgements constitute a space where authors can detail “who has done what” during the research process. Most often, authors use this space to thank colleagues that contributed to the research, as in the following example: “The authors thank Colleen Dalton and four anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments that improved the manuscript. We thank Fan-Chi Lin for providing FTAN measurements for comparison, and Anna Foster, Jiayi Xie and Goran Ekstrom for informative discussion.” (ut 000355321800013; earth and space). However, in some cases acknowledgements can also include contributorship statements from the authors in order to reflect the distribution of labour: “A.P., V.M. and V.P were involved in writing the manuscript. A.B.G and Y.A.K. were responsible for conception of the idea” (ut 000365808000014; clinical medicine).

The categories peer communication, investigation and analysis, materials and resources, and writing refer to specific types of contribution to research. These categories, taken together, represent half (50%) of the sample coded, confirming the importance of the contributions axis within the acknowledgements’ context. Moreover, some words are used most often to refer to specific categories of contribution, such as “access” which is used mainly in the category materials and resources (70% of the occurrences coded), “discussion” which is almost exclusively associated to the peer communication category (98% of the occurrences coded), and “assistance”, “experiment”, “help”, and “measurement”, which are all mainly associated to the category investigation and analysis (more than 60% of the occurrences coded).

Disclaimers

Acknowledgements are not necessarily thank-you notes or recognition of responsibility. Financial disclosure, conflict of interest, disclaimer, and ethics account for more than 40% of the sample coded. In fact, the categories financial disclosure and disclaimer are among the most frequent in the sample, accounting respectively for 22% and 18% of all occurrences coded. The words “analysis”, “collection”, “decision”, “design”, “interpretation”, “preparation”, and “writing”, which could all seemingly refer to types of contributions, were in fact used in the context of responsibility statements in a substantial share of the cases analysed. Moreover, the words “decision”, “design” and “interpretation” also are mostly found in those kinds of responsibility disclaimers (in respectively 65%, 55% and 61% of the occurrences coded for these specific words).

Non-responsibility statements of funding bodies are the most frequent disclaimers. The following example presents a typical statement: “The funding source had no role in the design of the study, the analysis and interpretation of the data or the writing of, nor the decision to publish the manuscript.” (ut 000352854700010). However, we found declarations of non-responsibility for other types of contributors regarding some part of a research project, as in the following sentence: “The data collectors have no responsibility over the analysis and interpretations presented in this study.” (ut 000349266800011). Furthermore, disclaimers are not always non-responsibility statements and can, on the contrary, disclose the specific responsibility of an organization, such as: “This study was funded by Xi'an Janssen Pharmaceutical Ltd (Beijing, People's Republic of China) who was responsible for study design and data collection, analysis, and interpretation.” (ut 000356594900001).

Contributions and disclaimers crossovers

In many cases, the disciplinary stratification provided a further level of analysis. The words “analysis”, “assistance”, and “code” present clear disciplinary patterns where the coding highlights the distinction between the two main contextual uses: the contributions axis and the disclaimers axis. For instance, the word “analysis” is used primarily in the sample to describe an investigation and analysis type of contribution: “We are grateful to Nahoko Adachi for her help in conducting the statistical analysis” (ut 000353959400005; psychology). However, for biomedical research, clinical medicine, and health, “analysis” is used mainly within the category disclaimer (example: “The funding agencies did not have any role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript” [ut 000346498800018; clinical medicine]). Mathematics is a divergent discipline, where the dominant category for “analysis” is financial disclosure, as exemplified by the following sentence: “This work was supported by the International Max-Planck Research School, 'Analysis, Design and Optimization in Chemical and Bio-chemical Process Engineering', Otto-von-Guericke-Universitat Magdeburg” (ut 000362588800005; mathematics).

Similarly, the word “assistance” is generally used across disciplines to describe a contribution pertaining to the category investigation and analysis (example: “The authors thank S. Watmough and K. Finder for assistance with field sampling at Dorset, and A. McDonough for assistance with the classification of plant species” [ut 000347756900044; earth and space]), except in engineering and technology and in mathematics where “assistance” is used to disclose financial help (financial disclosure) in the majority of the cases examined, as in this sentence: “The financial assistance of the National Research Foundation (NRF grant: Unlocking the future- FA2007043000003) towards this research is hereby acknowledged” (ut 000350024900008; mathematics).

Two distinct contextual uses emerge for the word “code”: it is found most often within the disclaimers axis (financial disclosure category) in biology, biomedical research, chemistry, health, psychology and social sciences (example: “The research (project code: TSY-11-3820) was supported by the Research Fund of Erciyes University” [ut 000363704000011; biology]) while it is used to describe a specific contribution (investigation and analysis category) in the majority of the cases studied in earth and space, engineering and technology, mathematics, physics and professional fields (example: “We thank Prof. D. Karaboga and Dr. B. Basturk for providing their excellent ABC MATLAB codes to implement this research” [ut 000361400900022; earth and space]).

In the case of the word “review”, the coding process also highlights two dominant uses, varying with the discipline: in biology, biomedical research, earth and space, mathematics, physics, and in the professional fields, “review” is used primarily to describe some part of the peer communication process (peer communication category), as in the following example: “We would like to express our gratitude to the anonymous referee for his or her careful review and insightful comments, in particular, for pointing out a simple proof of Lemma 1.8.” (ut 000347714700003; engineering and technology). However, in clinical medicine, a different use is made of the word “review,” mainly to refer to the document per se (dissemination category), as in this example: “We are grateful to Dr. Mozzetta for critically reading the manuscript and all members of the lab for stimulating discussions during the preparation of this review” (ut 000352374400001; clinical medicine). For all the remaining disciplines (chemistry, health, psychology, and social sciences), both categories (peer communication and dissemination) appear frequently.

The word “data” also presents distinct disciplinary patterns in the sample coded. “Data” is used mainly within the contributions axis (materials and resources category) in biology, clinical medicine, earth and space, engineering and technology, and social sciences (example: “The authors thank Chesapeake Energy for providing access to the VSP data we used” [ut 000364362900035; earth and space]). Moreover, the word “data” refers to a task within the investigation and analysis category in an important share of the cases coded in chemistry, physics, professional fields, and psychology (example: “We thank all graduate research assistants who helped with data collection” [ut 000348882900009; psychology]). However, “data” is mainly found within the disclaimers axis in clinical medicine and health (disclaimer category) as in the following example: “The funding agencies had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, the decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript” [ut 000345586900003; clinical medicine].

Authorial voice

Although details of contributions and various disclaimers represent a substantive share of their content, acknowledgements also constitute a space for personal testimony. Notwithstanding the expectations of funders and ethical considerations, acknowledgements remain the subjective presentation of researchers’ practices and of research contexts. The authors are the voice of the acknowledgements and as such, the word “author” is one of the most frequent with more than 339,000 occurrences in our dataset. Moreover, even when the word “author” is absent, the concept is not. In fact, the authorial voice cannot be reduced to a single category, because it pervades the acknowledgements whether the authors speak in the first or third persons:

• “ I would like to thank Iliana Flores, Amy Harrison, and Shannon Kahlden for their help with data collection.” (ut 000361977300090)
• “ We would also like to thank two anonymous reviewers for the contributions to this manuscript.” (ut 000364777400031)
• “Also, our thanks go to Mr Vit Hanousek who designed an original computer tool suitable for making all the above-discussed measurements.” (ut 000346267600010)
• “The authors declare that they have no competing interests.” (ut 000369908800022)
• “The authors wish to express their appreciation to the National Iranian Copper Industry Company (NICICO) for funding this work.” (ut 000344595900005)
• “Schuster is profoundly grateful to all the families who hosted her but especially Hasidullah, his wife, son and grandson who were unfailingly patient and kind with the strange cuckoo in their nest and to the Leverhulme Trust for funding her time in Afghanistan.” (ut 000350285300006)
• “This review is dedicated to the memory of my father who was a source of inspiration.” (ut 000349637500005)

Furthermore, as exemplified by the cases presented above, the varied nature of the testimonies found in acknowledgements underlines a need for a “free space” within research publications. Alongside formal disclaimers and acknowledgements of various contributions, authors seem to require a more personal space where they can speak for themselves, in their own name, on matters they judge worth mentioning.

Discussion and conclusion

In the last decades, acknowledgements have become a “constitutive element of academic writing” ([ 52 ]: p. 160). However, the acknowledgement section is not a mandatory part of a scientific article and its content could certainly be described as miscellaneous, ranging from pre-formulated financial disclosure statements to personal testimonies of gratitude. Moreover, acknowledgements’ content and practices have evolved over time, just as citations and authorship attribution practices have changed following the transformations that are affecting the whole reward system of science [ 53 ].

Typologies and classifications of acknowledgements have been a consistent topic in the acknowledgement literature [ 7 ]. Most of these typologies and classifications revolve around the contributions axis of acknowledgements, focusing on “who gets thanked for what” and “what types of contributions are acknowledged”. This qualitative analysis of acknowledgement content confirms the importance of the contributions axis: acknowledgements are indeed still a space where authors can detail the division of labour within all collaborators of a research project. Our findings also reveal the importance of disclaimers as part of the current scholarly communication apparatus, an aspect which was not highlighted by previous analyses and typologies.

It should be noted that our analysis was restricted to a corpus of single words, sampled from noun phrases identified by correspondence analysis [ 44 ]. Further research could now seek to recombine those single words into noun phrases that present variations in meaning around a common concept, such as “assistance” (e.g. “technical assistance” and “financial assistance”). Furthermore, our coding of acknowledgement sentences was done using mutually exclusive categories, an epistemological choice. Given the fact that sentences can perform more than one kind of action, another avenue would be to use open coding and place occurrences in non-exclusive, mutually complementary categories.

Our qualitative results show that caution should be used when working with acknowledgement data. Large-scale acknowledgement data are limited to funded research, given that in the two main bibliographic databases, Web of Science and Scopus, acknowledgements are collected with the intended objective of identifying funding sponsors and tracking funded research [ 54 , 55 ]. The indexation of acknowledgements are thus limited to acknowledgements that contain some kind of funding information; this could in turn induce a potential bias toward funding-related aspects within acknowledgements’ content [ 45 ]. This indexation bias could then, at least in part, explain the importance of funding disclosures in the dataset analysed here, but also elsewhere in large-scale studies.

Yet, our findings show that acknowledgements cannot be described as having one single and homogeneous purpose; they can include expected, if not imposed, acknowledgement of financial resources as well as infrastructure alongside very personal testimonies of gratitude, all at the same time, as the following excerpt exemplifies: “Data presented herein were obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. […]. The authors wish to extend special thanks to those of Hawaiian ancestry, on whose sacred mountain we are privileged to be guests. Without their generous hospitality, the observations would not have been possible” (ut 000363471600015). On rare occasions, personal matters discussed in the acknowledgements become the center of attention, such as when an author proposed to his girlfriend in the acknowledgement of a paper: “C.M.B. would specifically like to highlight the ongoing and unwavering support of Lorna O’Brien. Lorna, will you marry me?” [ 56 ]. This particular paper was covered by many news outlets and online media sites when it was published, ranking in the 20 th position of the Altmetrics Top100 ranking for the year 2015. Such a case highlights the potential unexpected effect an acknowledgement can have on the visibility of a paper.

Clearly delimited and dedicated spaces for funding information, conflict of interest disclosures and contributorship statements are already implemented in some scientific journals (e.g. PLOS One , The Lancet , Science ). Nonetheless, such examples are far from the norm at the moment. In light of our findings, if an effort of standardization of acknowledgements is to be made, acknowledgements should at least include three main sections: ethics of research (financial disclosure, conflict of interest and responsibility disclaimers), contributions made to research, and personal testimony. These three indexation fields would, in turn, allow large-scale analysis of acknowledgements without the equivocality that currently characterizes these texts, yet without narrowing the space left for the authorial voice. The question remains as to whether there is a real wish within the scientific community to delineate such acknowledgement sections; if not, acknowledgement data are likely destined to remain simple tracking devices for science funding, the contributions and the authorial voices lost in large-scale analyses of scientific credit.

Supporting information

References are presented in order of in-text appearance.

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Vincent Larivière for his comments and the three anonymous reviewers for their insightful suggestions and careful reading of the manuscript. This research was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada: Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarships (Paul-Hus) and, Insight Development [grant number 430-2014-0617] (Desrochers).

Funding Statement

APH was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ( http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/ ): Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarships. ND was supported the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ( http://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/ ): Insight Development [grant number 430-2014-0617]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Data Availability

Publisher's Note: The article involves the independent analysis of data from publications in PLOS ONE. PLOS ONE staff had no knowledge or involvement in the study design, funding, execution or manuscript preparation. The evaluation and editorial decision for this manuscript have been managed by an Academic Editor independent of PLOS ONE staff, per our standard editorial process. The findings and conclusions reported in this article are strictly those of the author(s).