In the acknowledgement section of a thesis or paper, the authors usually thank the funding institution of their research project and people who had significant impact on their publication.

When acknowledging companies/institutions in a publication, should they be informed beforehand? I mean, should authors ask for permissions before acknowledging any names in a publication?


If the agency provides funding, and you are not sure about their policy, you can always contact the person who administers your grant to find out.

Some private foundations do have specific requests for acknowledgement. For example, I seem to remember that the Templeton Foundation likes authors to include a statement such as "The opinions expressed here are those of the author and not necessarily those of the John Templeton Foundation."

Your grant agent can surely tell you about this. And they will almost certainly be happy to hear you are publishing something with their support.

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As long as you're not publishing their logo, you should be able to print their name in an acknowledgement section. However, if you are getting sponsored by them, it may be necessary (according to terms of agreement(s) or as a courtesy) to show their logo.

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  • 6
    Do any funding agencies or corporations actually require including a logo when acknowledging a grant in a research paper? I've never seen this done. – Anonymous Mathematician Jul 31 '14 at 2:15
  • I don't know, I'm only speaking as a someone in Law, and what could be expected by a funding agency, not as an academic. – TheDoctor Jul 31 '14 at 2:21
  • I've seen requests from EU agencies that mandate logos - they're omitted where they're not feasible (article in proceedings publications), but mandatory elsewhere - i.e., book or technical report publications, posters, conference presentations. Other agencies may require a specific wording in acknowledgements and listing the specific grant name, instead of simply mentioning the agency. – Peteris Jul 31 '14 at 16:23

It likely depends on what field, and what you're acknowledging them for.

In most medical journals, and as such most journals of "allied" fields like nursing or public health, you must name your funding sources, so institutes and companies take it as assumed that their names will be appearing in publications. One company that's funded projects of mine even provides the boilerplate language in their funding agreement.

If you're acknowledging them for help, or the reasons you'd acknowledge an individual, rather than for funding? Again, likely depends on the field - again, in medicine, many journals consider being in the acknowledgements section to be a tacit approval of the results of the paper, and require you seek permission to put them in the acknowledgements section.

Regardless of whether or not you need to, it's probably decent practice to let them know, especially if they're funding you, because it tells them you're doing productive things with their money.

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