Article overview:

1. Use cases of anonymize reviewers

2. Using the anonymize reviewers feature

3. Forwarding anonymized feedback to the author

4. How do I get access to the anonymize reviewers feature?

Anonymize your reviewers and hide their identity from each other with the anonymize reviewers feature. With this feature, your reviewers will be anonymous to each other, but project collaborators will know their identity.

Use cases of anonymize reviewers:

By activating anonymize reviewers, you can:

• Ensure unbiased feedback - Reviewers cannot see each other's identities.

• Easily manage your reviewers - As a project collaborator, you can see the identities of the reviewers.

• Create a smooth process - Export the anonymized review report to your manuscript submission system and easily forward it to the author.

Using the anonymize reviewers feature

You can activate the anonymize reviewers feature in the respective settings of each reviewer group. This will anonymize all invited reviewers of the step.

• How to anonymize reviewers?

1. Locate the reviewer group where reviewers should be anonymized.

2. Click on the settings icon of the reviewer group

3. Enable Anonymize Reviewers

💡Pro-tip: If you frequently work with anonymous reviewers, we recommend that you create and use project templates. By doing so, you will avoid the risk of accidentally forgetting to enable the anonymize reviewers feature.

• From the reviewer's perspective

✅ Reviewers are anonymized - Reviewers cannot see each other's identities.

Each reviewer has a unique anonymized ID and avatar. A reviewer is represented by the same unique ID throughout all projects and files where anonymize reviewers is activated. While the reviewers are anonymous among each other, they are able to see the identity of project collaborators.

❌ Cannot mention other reviewers in comments - Anonymous reviewers cannot mention other reviewers, but they can mention project collaborators.

• From the project collaborator's perspective

✅ Can see the identity of reviewers - Project collaborators will see the actual names of the reviewers.

✅ Can mention in comments- Project collaborators can mention other project collaborators as well as reviewers in comments.

Forwarding anonymized feedback to the author

There are two ways to pass on anonymized feedback to the author.

• Option 1: Export anonymized review report

1. Export review report as PDF

2. Forward this PDF to your author via your manuscript submission system.

✅ More control over what the author sees

✅ Store PDF for documentation purposes

⚠️Please Note: While reviewers will be anonymous, the project collaborators will

still, be shown with their names.

• Option 2: Invite the author to access the review on Filestage

1. Copy the review link of the correct file version.

2. Share this review link to your author via your manuscript submission system.

✅ Author can navigate easily through the comments

✅ Author sees the latest version of the comments

✅ Author can interact with the reviewers in a completely anonymous way

⚠️ Please note: Review links give access to all files of a reviewer group.

How do I get access to the anonymize reviewers feature?

If you are interested in the anonymize reviewers feature, please get in touch with us through the chat or email at support@filestage.io.

💡What´s next? after understanding how to anonymize your reviewers for crowd reviews, see how to Manage your expert crowd reviews in Filestage.

Let us know if you have any questions by reaching out to us on chat or emailing us at support@filestage.io. We're always happy to help!