How to anonymise your submission

SComS uses double-blind peer review: reviewers must not be able to identify you, and you will not learn who reviewed your work. Reviewers see the files you upload, so anonymisation has to happen before you submit. Three things need attention, and the third is the one most often overlooked.

1. The text

Remove your name and your institution from the manuscript, including the header and footer. Remove acknowledgements and funding statements – these belong in the final version, and we will ask you for them once your article has been accepted. Watch for indirect clues: an ethics approval number that names your university, a link to a data repository under your name, or a description of the case that only you could have studied.

Where you cite your own earlier work, replace the entry with “Author (year)” in both the text and the reference list.

2. The files

Submit the manuscript and the title page as two separate files. Everything identifying you goes on the title page; nothing identifying you stays in the manuscript. If you submit figures or tables as separate files, they need the same treatment.

3. The document properties

Word stores your name inside the file, invisible in the text but visible to anyone who opens the file information. This is the most frequent oversight in submissions to SComS.

• Word for Windows: File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document → tick “Document Properties and Personal Information” → Inspect → Remove All.
• Word for Mac: Review → Protect → Protect Document → tick “Remove personal information from this file on save”, then save. You can also clear the fields directly under File → Properties → Summary.
• LibreOffice: File → Properties → Security → tick “Remove personal information on saving”, then save.
• Google Docs: download the file as .docx first, then apply one of the steps above – the export carries your account name into the file.

Check that it worked

Reopen the finished file and look at File → Properties (Windows) or File → Properties → Summary (Mac). The Author and Last saved by fields should be empty or show something neutral such as your device name. Then search the manuscript for your surname and for your institution’s name; both should return nothing.

If anything identifying you remains when the manuscript reaches us, we will remove it and tell you what we changed – but the review may be delayed while we do.