Paste manuscript text and author names to redact them for double-blind review, plus a file-metadata checklist. Free, no sign-up.
What this tool does
Double-blind review fails on small leaks: an author name in the text, a self-citation written as ‘our earlier work’, a university name in a figure caption, or the author’s name sitting in the file’s metadata. This anonymizer replaces every name and institution you list with a neutral placeholder throughout pasted text, flags first-person self-references, and gives you a checklist for the file itself — document properties, PDF metadata, file name — because the text is only half the leak.
Why it matters
Good citations do quiet work. They let a reader find every source you used, they show that your argument rests on real evidence rather than memory, and they protect you: a clean reference list is much harder to challenge than a vague one. Most marks lost on referencing are not lost on difficult sources. They are lost on small, repeated slips — a missing year, a swapped initial, a title in the wrong case — that a quick tool pass catches before submission.
How to use it
- Paste your manuscript text.
- List author names and institutions, one per line.
- Copy the redacted text and run the file checklist.
Worked example
Text ‘Patel (2023) at Oxford showed…’ with names Patel and Oxford becomes ‘[AUTHOR] (2023) at [INSTITUTION] showed…’ plus the checklist: remove document author property, strip PDF metadata, rename the file, check figure captions and acknowledgements.
Tips for good results
Search for ‘we’ and ‘our’ after redacting. Self-citations phrased in the first person are the most common blind-review leak.
Work from the source itself, not from another paper’s copy of it. And keep one style for the whole list: a single mixed entry undermines an otherwise perfect bibliography.
Honest limits
The tool redacts only pasted text and only the names you list. It cannot clean a file’s metadata itself, rewrite self-citations in third person for you, or catch clues like a distinctive dataset or a cited preprint with your name on it. Read the redacted text once yourself before submitting.
Common mistakes to avoid
Common mistakes to avoid: copying a reference from another paper without checking it against the original, trusting a PDF filename for the title or year, and mixing two styles in one list. Each of these looks harmless alone and careless together. Run the tool, read its output once, and compare it with the source itself before you paste it into your document.
Before you submit
Run through this short check before you submit: is every author name spelled as it appears on the source, is every year present and correct, and does every in-text citation have a matching entry in your reference list? Read the list once from top to bottom rather than skimming it. Most referencing errors are found in that single slow read, and fixing them there is far cheaper than fixing them after a reviewer finds them. If one entry still looks odd after that read, check it against the original source before you change anything else.
Frequently asked questions
Is this tool really free?
Yes. It runs in your browser on this page, with no account and no payment. Nothing you paste leaves your computer.
Do I still need to check the result?
Yes, once. Tools apply rules; they cannot verify facts about your source. Compare the output with the source itself before submitting.
Can I use the output in my paper?
Yes. The output is a formatted reference or analysis for your own work. Keep the source’s facts accurate and the formatting consistent across your list.
What if the tool’s output differs from my style guide?
Trust the style guide. Tools encode the common rules of a style; your university or journal’s own sheet wins every disagreement. Use the tool to do the routine work, then apply the local rule where it differs.
Also available in Spanish: Anonimizador de Doble Ciego – Elimina Nombres de Autores para Revisión Ciega Gratis.