To ensure the integrity of anonymous peer-review, every effort should be made to prevent the identities of the authors and reviewers from being known to each other. This involves the authors, editors, and reviewers (who upload documents as part of their review) checking to see if the following steps have been taken with regard to the text and the file properties:
The authors of the document have deleted their names from the text, with "Author" and year used in the references and footnotes, instead of the authors' name, article title, etc.
The authors of the document have removed personal information from the file properties by taking the following steps:
Microsoft Word for Windows:
Go to File
Select Info
Click on Check for Issues
Click on Inspect Document
In the Document Inspector dialog box, select the check boxes to choose the type of hidden content that you want inspected.
Click Remove All
Click Close
Save the document
Microsoft Word for MacOS:
Go to Tools
Click Protect Document
Select Remove personal information for this file on save
