In double-blind (or "double-anonymized") peer review, reviewers aren't told who wrote the paper. Journals and conferences ask authors to remove anything identifying from the manuscript. Most authors remember the title page. Fewer remember the file itself, which can carry their name in several hidden places.

This is a practical checklist for anonymising a manuscript, covering both the text and the file.

Part 1: the text

These are the things reviewers can see. Your journal's author guidelines are the final word, but the usual list is:

  1. Title page. Remove names, affiliations, emails and ORCID IDs, and submit them as a separate file if the journal asks for one.
  2. Acknowledgements and funding. Remove or anonymise them ("[removed for review]"). Grant numbers can identify a lab.
  3. Self-citations. Cite your own work in the third person ("Smith (2023) showed…", not "we showed in our earlier work"). Some journals ask you to replace the reference with "[Author, 2023]".
  4. Ethics approvals and trial registrations that name your institution. Anonymise them as your guidelines say.
  5. Headers, footers and running titles with names.
  6. Supplementary files, data links and code repositories. A GitHub link with your user name is as identifying as your name. Use an anonymised link if your field has a service for that.
  7. Figures. Screenshots, lab photos and slide templates can show a university logo or a name.

Part 2: the file

This is the part that's easy to miss. A manuscript file carries hidden details:

  • The author field, filled in automatically by Word from your account.
  • "Last modified by" in Word, naming whoever saved it last.
  • Comments and tracked changes, each with the reviewer's or co-author's name. A co-author's comment left in the file is an instant giveaway.
  • In PDFs, a hidden XMP copy of the author, plus editing history and document IDs.
  • Images placed in the document with their own details: the camera or scanner, dates, sometimes a GPS location, and an artist or copyright name.

Cleaning a Word manuscript

  1. Accept or reject all tracked changes, and delete all comments.
  2. On Windows: File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document. Inspect everything, then remove Comments, Revisions and Versions and Document Properties and Personal Information.
  3. On a Mac: Word → Preferences → Security & Privacy → tick Remove personal information from this file on save, then save.
  4. Check File → Properties (Windows: File → Info) to confirm the author and "last modified by" are gone.

Cleaning a PDF manuscript

If you submit a PDF, or export one from LaTeX or Word:

  1. LaTeX users: hyperref writes pdfauthor into the PDF if you set it, and some templates set it for you. Check your preamble, and for review builds use your class's anonymous option if it has one (many conference classes do).
  2. Clean the PDF itself. Drop it on our PDF metadata remover. It rewrites the file and removes the author, title, software, dates, XMP editing history and document IDs, and strips identifying details from images inside the PDF. It doesn't change the pages. Comments and annotations are kept, since they're content, so delete them first.
  3. Check the result: File → Properties in any PDF reader should show no author.

Without an account you can check what your PDF carries, read in your browser without uploading it. A free account includes 3 cleans a month.

A note on what's realistic

Double-blind review isn't perfect. In a small field, reviewers may recognise the work from a conference talk or a preprint. The goal is to avoid accidental identification, which is exactly what file details cause. A clean file means the only clues are the ones in the science.

Also: many journals strip file properties themselves during submission, but not all do, and not always every copy. Cleaning it yourself costs a few minutes.

Frequently asked questions

What does double-anonymized peer review mean?

Neither the reviewers nor the authors are told each other's identities. Authors remove identifying information from the manuscript, and the journal handles the rest.

How do I remove my name from Word document properties?

Use File → Info → Check for Issues → Inspect Document on Windows and remove Document Properties and Personal Information. On a Mac, turn on "Remove personal information from this file on save" in Word's Security & Privacy preferences.

Does a PDF from LaTeX contain the author's name?

It can. If hyperref's pdfauthor is set, or your template sets it, the name goes into the PDF's properties. Check File → Properties on the output, and clean the PDF if needed.

Should I cite my own work in a blinded manuscript?

Usually yes, but in the third person, or anonymised as the journal instructs. Check the author guidelines; practice varies by field.

Do journals remove metadata automatically?

Some submission systems strip file properties, but not all do it consistently. Removing it yourself is the safe option.