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ACM Policy on
Reviewer Anonymity
The "Rights and Responsibilities in ACM Publishing" assures that ACM will maintain
the anonymity of reviewers. Editors and administrators of ACM publications must keep
the identities of all reviewers of particular manuscripts hidden from authors, other
reviewers, and the public. Identities of reviewers may be divulged to members of a
publication's Editorial Board or to ACM staff as needed to solicit expert advice in
special circumstances. In such cases, identities of a reviewer may also be made
known to other reviewers of the same manuscript, provided that the consent of all
affected reviewers is obtained. Reviewers must also maintain the confidentiality
of reviewer identities, as well as the reviews themselves, that are communicated to
them at any time.
An exception to the anonymity policy is made in the case of review of conference
submissions by a program committee. It is permissible to make reviews and the identity
of reviewers visible to the entire program committee, provided that all committee
members and solicited reviewers are notified in advance of this practice. (A further
exception occurs when a program committee member is also an author. Names of
reviewers can never be disclosed to the author.)
This policy does not prevent the simple listing of all reviewers of a particular
volume or proceedings without reference to particular manuscripts for the purpose of
acknowledgement, or the appearance of reviewers names in a composite database for use
by the editors.
for the
purpose of acknowledgement, or the appearance of reviewers names in a composite
database for use by the editors.
Adopted
November 19, 2003; amended December 17, 2003
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