To ensure the integrity of anonymous peer review, every effort should be made to prevent authors from knowing the identity of reviewers, and vice versa. To achieve this, authors, editors, and reviewers who upload documents as part of the review process should verify that the following steps have been followed concerning the text and file properties:

• Authors have removed their names from the text and used "Author" and the year of publication in references and footnotes instead of the author's name, article title, etc.
• Authors have removed personal information from the file properties by following these steps:
  • Microsoft Word for Windows:
    • Go to "File"
    • Select "Info"
    • Click "Check for Issues"
    • Click "Inspect Document"
    • In the "Document Inspector" dialog box, check the boxes for the types of hidden content you want to inspect.
    • Click "Remove All"
    • Click "Close"
    • Save the document.
  • Microsoft Word for MacOS:
    • Go to "Tools"
    • Click "Protect Document"
    • Select "Remove personal information from file on save"
    • Click OK and save the file.
  • PDF
    • Go to "File"
    • Select "Properties"
    • Remove any names from the "Author" field
    • Click OK
    • Save the document.