Guidelines for Double Blind Submissions

Double Blind reviewing requires that the paper reviewers should not know the names or affiliation of the paper authors. This is desirable to remove any possible or perceived bias toward a paper on non technical grounds. However, in practice this is difficult to achieve in full as descriptions of background material or experiments, which are essential to the technical content of the paper, often give a clear indication to knowledgeable reviewers of the likely source of the paper. RSS 2020 will try to adopt a pragmatic approach to double blind reviewing in which authors are encouraged to hide identity without unduly affecting the quality or import of their submission.

The following general principles should be applied in submissions:

• Authors names and affiliations should not be cited in the title or text of the submission.
• Acknowledgments to people or funding agencies should not appear in the submission.
• Citing of web links to the authors or author’s institute should be avoided.

In self citing authors previous work, avoid expressions such as “In the authors earlier work…”, rather use alternative expressions such as “In previous work…” or “In related work…”, in a manner that does not distinguish their own work from the work of others. Authors should otherwise cite work, including their own, as required for the completeness of the submission.

In presentation of experimental work, avoid logos in pictures, or overt references to an individual laboratory. Use expressions such as “The experimental equipment…” rather than “The University of XYZ’s Robby the Robot…”. Otherwise authors should include photographs, graphics and other presentation material as in the normal manner for a paper submission.

In general authors should avoid obviously attributable self-references while ensuring that the paper is complete, makes appropriate citations of related work and fully describes the contributions made.