[OJS 3.4.0.5] Starting a discussion with a reviewer reveals the author's name

Software Support
1

Describe the issue or problem
When an editor uses the ‘start discussion’ feature to open a discussion that only includes themselves and a reviewer, the message includes ‘React to this through #[id Number] [Author name]’ (quick translation from the dutch message “Reageer op deze opmerking via …”).

That does not happen when you use the ‘send email to reviewer’ button, but editors are not always aware that exists (it is a bit hidden).

In double blind peer review, this inadvertently reveals the name of the author.

The official documentation does not warn against using discussions in double blind peer review when communicating with reviewers, so I was not sure if this was intended behavior or an oversight.

It would be good to know if there is anything we can change to combat this, or if it is a bug I should report on GH.

What application are you using?
OJS 3.4.0-5

2

Hi @KayWP,

Is this referring to a specific pre-populated email template? I wasn’t able to replicate the the steps that you tried to reach this point - perhaps if you could provide more information on exactly what steps you took to invoke this message in the discussion - it didn’t show for me.

-Roger
PKP Team

4

Hi Roger,

Thanks for getting back to me. The steps I took were:

  1. I added a reviewer account using one of my email addresses as a double blind peer reviewer to an existing publication in the review stage.

  2. I started a discussion using an editorial account that included as participants the editor account and the review-account added in step 1.

  3. The mail address associated with the review account got an email that included the name of the author in the first blank box below:

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    image662×126 9.93 KB

5

Here is what the discussion looked like, for good measure:

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image524×414 23 KB

6

Hi @KayWP,

Thanks for sharing these additional details - this is helpful to get a fuller sense of what is occurring.

I’m wondering if you might be running up against this issue/bug: Reviews - Reviewer is able to identify author if not assigned to the current review round · Issue #11374 · pkp/pkp-lib · GitHub

@Vitaliy - does this seem characteristic of that bug?

-Roger
PKP Team