Boffin Access – Peer Review Guidelines for Authors
At Boffin Access, we follow a rigorous double-blind peer review process to ensure fairness, objectivity, and the highest scholarly standards.
In this system, both author and reviewer identities are concealed, minimizing bias and preserving the integrity of the review.
Authors and reviewers alike share responsibility for upholding ethical standards throughout the process.
Author Responsibilities in Double-Blind Review
Authors must take every precaution to ensure that their identity is not revealed to reviewers, either directly or indirectly. To comply with double-blind requirements:
- Submit a separate cover letter containing article title, author names, affiliations, contact details, acknowledgements, and funding information.
- The main manuscript file must be fully anonymized and should not contain author names, affiliations, or acknowledgements.
- Figures, tables, or supplementary materials must not include any institutional logos, grant numbers, or identifiers.
- References to your own prior work should be written in the third person wherever possible.
- Limit self-citations. Where self-citation is essential, anonymize as [Anonymous, Year] – Details hidden for double-blind review.
- Exclude acknowledgements from the main manuscript; these should only appear in the cover letter.
- Remove identifying metadata or file properties (e.g., “document author”) from manuscript and supplementary files.
Ethical Expectations
Authors must not attempt to discover the identity of reviewers, nor contact them directly under any circumstances.
Any violation of anonymity or ethical principles may result in manuscript rejection.
Boffin Access is committed to COPE guidelines and takes breaches of confidentiality or research ethics very seriously.
Editorial Oversight
All submitted manuscripts are initially screened by the editorial office for compliance with double-blind review standards.
Non-compliant manuscripts may be returned to authors for correction prior to peer review.
Only manuscripts that fully adhere to anonymization and ethical requirements will proceed to external review.
✅ Before You Submit: Double-Blind Review Compliance
Please ensure your submission follows these requirements to avoid delays:
✔ Cover letter includes author names, affiliations, acknowledgements, and funding details (submitted separately).
✔ Main manuscript is fully anonymized — no author names, institutions, or acknowledgements inside.
✔ Figures/tables do not contain logos, grant numbers, or institutional identifiers.
✔ Self-citations written in third person; anonymize when necessary (e.g., [Anonymous, 2025]).
✔ Metadata and file properties (e.g., “document author”) have been removed.
✔ No attempt is made to identify or contact reviewers.
Non-compliant manuscripts may be returned for correction before peer review begins.
✅ Before You Submit Your Review
Please ensure your review complies with Boffin Access’s ethical and professional standards:
✔ Your comments are fair, objective, and constructive.
✔ You have declared any conflicts of interest that may influence your judgment.
✔ The manuscript and review materials have been kept strictly confidential.
✔ You have not attempted to identify or contact the author(s).
✔ Your recommendation is based on scientific merit, originality, and methodological soundness.
✔ You have provided specific, actionable feedback to help authors improve their work.
Thank you for supporting Boffin Access’s mission to uphold the highest standards of open science and scholarly publishing.