Consumers

As set out in the policy (see details), consumer peer reviewers are exempt from the named peer review process and may choose to remain anonymous. (Consumers still follow the policy for Declarations of potential conflicts of interest for peer reviewers.)

Exceptions approved by Network Senior Editor or Editor in Chief

If a Cochrane Review Group believes that their peer review process for a particular Cochrane Review will be significantly negatively impacted by using named peer review, the Managing Editor or Co-ordinating Editor may apply to the Network Senior Editor or Editor in Chief of the Cochrane Library for a policy exception on a review-by-review basis. In each case the Cochrane Review Group must provide details, including the reason for opting to remain anonymous. Any exemptions must be forwarded to the Editorial & Methods Department (emd@cochrane.org) as detailed below.

Editor notes

Informing authors

The Cochrane Review Group must inform the author team when an exemption is in place and that it has been approved.

Informing the Editorial & Methods Department

The Cochrane Review Group must forward any approved exceptions to the Editorial & Methods Department (emd@cochrane.org) with the following information:

(lightbulb)RevMan/Archie Workflows guidance: when peer reviewer remains anonymous to the authors

When peer reviewers return comments to a CRG through whatever format (e.g. checklist or email with a list of comments), the CRG should check that the peer reviewer has agreed to take part in named peer review. If the peer reviewer is remaining anonymous, the CRG should update the peer reviewer’s Properties sheet in Archie as follows:

CRGs can then search for all peer reviewers that have submitted closed peer review by using the Advanced Search in Archie as follows:.