Are author details visible to reviewers? And can authors see who the reviewers are?

Can reviewers see the authors' names or are the submissions anonymized?
Is it possible to change this setting?

We have a special submission type for applications to a special session / summer school and would like all reviewers to be able to see all details of the submitting authors. Is this also possible?

Does the system also support an open peer reviewing process where the reviewers’ names are shown to the authors?

(A German version of this article is available.)

Whether the review procedure is double-blind (anonymous for both authors and reviewers) depends on the setup of each submission type / conference track. Usually the reviewer details are also not shown to the authors to protect their identity, but even this can be changed.

Double Blind Review
By default, neither authors' names nor reviewers' names are disclosed to each other, i.e. the review process is double-blind. Each submission type / conference track can have its own unique review mode settings.

You can find this option on the page:
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks

Highlight the corresponding track, press the button "Edit Submission Type / Track", and then scroll down to the section "Review Options".
For the option "Double Blind Reviews" choose “Yes, double blind reviews” if you want to hide author details from reviewers (see image 1).

Single Blind Review
You can display the authors' names and organizations to the reviewers by enabling single blind reviewing. This option can be set for each submission type / conference track separately.

Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks

Select the corresponding track, press the button “Edit Submission Type / Track”, and then scroll down to the section “Review Options”.
For the option “Double Blind Reviews” choose the setting “No, single blind reviews” in order to display the authors' names and organizations to the reviewers while reviewers remain anonymous for authors (see image 2).

If you want to show even more information of the submitting author to the reviewers, please enable the expert settings by selecting “Expert Settings Disabled” or the cogwheel icon on the bottom of the page.
For the option “Double Blind Reviews” you can select the additional setting “No, single blind reviews and show user details of the submitting author to the reviewers” (see image 3).
Now reviewers can see the authors' names and organizations as well as details of the submitting author's user account (name, address, e-mail, extra fields). Authors cannot see any reviewers' details.

This setting is usually not recommended for paper evaluations, but rather for other reviewing purposes like reviews of application etc.

Please note that you can change these settings at any time.

Open Peer Review
You can even enable an open peer reviewing process and show the authors who the reviewers are and vice versa. The open peer review is still a peer review, but it is no longer a blind review. It may increase transparency.
This option can be set for each submission type / conference track separately.

Please go to:
Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks

Please enable the expert settings by selecting “Expert Settings Disabled” or the cogwheel icon on the bottom of the page.
Now edit the submission type / track you want to change and go to the section “Review Options”. For the setting “Double Blind Reviews” choose one of the two options “No, open reviews. Show reviewer details to authors and author details to the reviewers” or “No, open reviews. Show reviewer details to authors and full submitting author details to the reviewers” (see image 4).

Now authors can see the reviewers’ names and organizations of their submissions. Reviewers can see the authors’ names and organizations, or even all details of the submitting author’s user account (name, address, e-mail, extra fields).

This setting is usually not recommended for paper evaluations, but rather for other reviewing purposes like reviews of application etc.

Please note that ConfTool Pro also offers an additional "Open Review Process" where any user can review any paper non-anonymously.


Hints:

• Please note that file names are always renamed according to a generic scheme (e.g. "Contribution_100.pdf") for the reviewers, but the contents of the files are of course not altered / anonymized!
  
• Document properties of PDF files providing information about title, author, subject and keywords (see tab description) will be removed automatically during the upload process (see image 5). Please take a look at this entry in the forum for more information:
  How to remove author information from Word documents or PDF files?
• If you need anonymized submissions (for the review process) and "normal" submissions (for publication), you can also ask for two file uploads for each submission and disable the access of reviewers to the non-anonymized files. This can also be done here:
  Overview => Settings => Manage Submission Types / Conference Tracks
  Please go to the section "Download Settings" and change the settings for the options "Accessibility of file No. X" accordingly.
• Please be informed that members of the program committee have the same rights as reviewers plus added functions.
  See: User Roles and Statuses in ConfTool
• Please also refer to:
  Are names of authors visible to PC members?