Ensuring A Blind Review

Ensuring a blind peer review

When submitting for peer review, you must follow these three steps to ensure anonymity

  1. The title page must be uploaded separately from the manuscript, as an additional file, during step 4 of the submission process.
  2. Check that the text of your manuscript is also blinded; that is to say, any references within the manuscript which might reveal you to be the author are removed.
  3. Author identification must also be removed from the properties of the file.

How to remove author identification from the properties of the file:

PDF:

  1. Choose File
  2. Choose Properties
  3. Delete Author
  4. Save the file

Microsoft Word 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, 365:

  1. Choose File
  2. Choose Check for issues
  3. Choose Inspect document
  4. Uncheck all of the checkboxes except Document Properties and Personal information
  5. Choose Inspect
  6. Choose Remove all
  7. Save the file

Microsoft Word for Mac 2011:

  1. Choose File
  2. Choose Properties
  3. Choose Summary
  4. Remove all of the identifying information from all of the fields
  5. Save the File

Microsoft Word 2007:

  1. Click on the Office button in the upper-left-hand corner
  2. Choose Prepare
  3. Choose Properties
  4. Delete all of the information in the document property fields that appear under the main menu options
  5. Save the file
Microsoft Word 2003 and previous versions, and Macintosh versions of Word:
  1. Choose File
  2. Choose Save As
  3. Choose Tools (or Options with a Mac)
  4. Choose Security
  5. Remove personal information from file properties on save
  6. Save the file