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dojoteef t1_itv72az wrote

Since being able to see the names of other reviewers doesn't imply authors can guess your identity, the more troubling possibility is that a reviewer is collaborating with the authors of that paper.

Did you reach out to the meta-reviewer and the chairs? That should be the first thing you do when you run into such a situation.

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EnvironmentalBar338 t1_itv8sk3 wrote

A malicious reviewer can help the author to know other reviewers -- I think this is what happened in this case.

No, I did not contact the meta-reviewer (maybe the meta-reviewer himself is malicious? He told my name to the author). Since the author already knows me, if I do anything he would know it is me. What will you do in this case?

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dojoteef t1_itv9kbp wrote

Email the chairs: aaai23chairs@aaai.org

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ID4gotten t1_itvhmrk wrote

I understand you may feel constrained by knowing the author. But this issue is bigger than just their paper and their feelings. I would 100% contact the Chair, and it (edit: if) they do nothing, raise it with the organizion as a whole.

If you wish you can let the author and other reviewers know this is not normal. Reviewers shouldn't break anonymity and authors shouldn't be able to see reviewers or directly ask them to change reviews, and for that reason you will be contacting the Chair. You can tell them you"re not going to make the issue about reprimand for their specific actions but about protecting the anonymity of peer review.

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EnvironmentalBar338 t1_itvo79j wrote

I emailed the chairs anonymously. I did not reveal the author's name. Just hope that they can rethink/modify this anonymity policy in the future.

They replied "thank you".

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pm_me_your_smth t1_itw7kso wrote

> I did not reveal the author's name

Shouldn't that paper be voided because of the incident? Since it's clear that anonymity is compromised which is critical for the review process.

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listenener t1_itw4t2w wrote

Good job. Nothing will happen because you didn't reveal the author's name.

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ID4gotten t1_itx0mrn wrote

Sorry you didn't get a more definitive or satisfactory result. Up to you how much to continue to push it, but you could let them know you'll think twice about reviewing for them in the future without anonymity. You can also reject papers from people you know or have any link to (possibly harder).

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DigThatData t1_itvh0i8 wrote

> Since the author already knows me, if I do anything he would know it is me.

who cares? you're not the one violating protocol here, they are.

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make3333 t1_itw03lm wrote

you definitely should contact people higher

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dajoli t1_itwd6hg wrote

I guess it depends on the nature of your relationship with the author.

If for whatever reason you decide not to report them by name to the conference, at the very least I would tell the author that they get a free pass this one time only Their approach is completely unethical and you won't change the review on this occasion. But if they ever try a stunt like this again then you will report them - they've been warned.

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-gh0stRush- t1_itwi5au wrote

How certain are you that another reviewer or the meta reviewer leaked your info? You say that the authors already know you. How can you be sure that they didn't simply guess that it was you? Maybe you mentioned to a colleague that you're an AAAI reviewer and they heard about it. If you both specialize in a niche area and they recognize your writing/argument style, they might have just connected the dots.

I'm just saying that you should be confident in your assessment before you raise accusations against your fellow reviewers.

In my opinion, you need to identify the paper to the chair. The authors violated the anonymity policy. It's the chair's job -- not yours -- to decide whether or not this paper needs to be thrown out.

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