Ensuring a Blind Review

ENSURING A BLIND REVIEW

To ensure the integrity of the blind peer-review process, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. Authors must verify that the following steps have been taken to anonymize the text and file properties prior to uploading their submission:

• Anonymize the Text: Delete all author names and affiliations from the manuscript text. In footnotes and references, replace the authors' names, article titles, and publisher information with the word "Author" and the publication year.

• The File Name should be the title of the manuscript: Do not include any identifying information such as author names and / or affiliatons, etc.

• Remove Hidden Personal Information: Clear all personal metadata from the file properties based on the software used to finalize the document:

Microsoft Word for Windows:

1. Go to File > Info.

2. Click on Check for Issues, then select Inspect Document.

3. In the Document Inspector dialog box, select the check boxes for the types of hidden content you want inspected.

4. Click Remove All, then click Close.

5. Save the document.

Microsoft Word for MacOS:

1. Go to Tools > Protect Document.

2. Select Remove personal information for this file on save.

3. Click OK and save the file.

PDF:

1. Go to File > Properties.

2. Remove any name in the Author field.

3. Click OK and save the document.