When authors initiate a discussion during the review stage, they are able so select participants from a list. Normally, anonymous reviewers are not listed here. However, if the reviewer also has editorial roles, they is listed as editor, but also as reviewer:
As can be seen, the second person is listed as editor, but also noted to be a reviewer in a single blind review (“Anonymer Gutachter / Offengelegter Autor”). By this, the identity of the reviewer is disclosed.
Your’s
Felix
Hi @felixhelix,
Can you confirm whether this is occurring when the user has an editorial role in the journal, or only when they are assigned as an editor on the submission?
To demonstrate what I mean, in this screenshot the user called “Subscribed User” is listed as a Journal Editor in the Participants list of the submission.
When I went to invite them as a reviewer on the same submission, I received a warning from OJS that the user had a role which would allow them to view the author’s identify, and had to “Unlock” the user so they could be invited to review.
At this point, the author can indeed see the option to send a message to the “Subscribed User,” since this person is both a journal editor and reviewer for the submission.
However, if I remove this user as a Journal Editor for the submission and again login as the author and open a discussion, I can see that the author no longer sees this user in the list of recipients, because they are assigned only as a reviewer, and not as a Participant on the submission. This was done without making any changes to the role assignment on the user’s account (they still have a journal manager role in the journal, but they are not assigned as a journal manager on this submission).
Can you confirm that this is what you are seeing? If so I believe the system is working as intended, and the solution would be to avoid assigning a user as a journal manager on a submission if they are also a reviewer. If the user is appearing in the Discussion thread when they are not assigned as a participant on the submission, please let me know.
Thank you,
Kate
Hi Kate,
many thanks for your detailed reply!
You are right: only if the reviewer is also listed as a participant in the review process, he is listed as possible participant in the discussions.
What I noted, however, is that you can add a participant who is already a reviewer without unlocking them first and without any notice that this will allow him to identity the author or that they will be disclosed to the author.
Also, that second aspect, that a reviewer can be disclosed to the author, should i.m.o. also be given as a reason why a specific user is locked.
your’s
Felix